Going for Gold

Bolsover CE Junior School in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, is a flagship school with 247 pupils on its roll. Four years ago, the school had no facilities for cooking, growing or farming. Recently awarded Gold, Bolsover now has a special cookery classroom, a garden, a polytunnel, an orchard with 40 fruit trees, five chickens known as ‘The Featherbabes’ and two guinea pigs – Rosie and Ruth.

The school joined the Food for Life Partnership in December 2008. Headteacher and school governor Rowena Herbert tells us about their journey to Gold over the past two years.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of the Food for Life Partnership as a whole?

The children are developing new skills, gaining in confidence, and they’re seeing what they have grown. The Food for Life Partnership has raised awareness of the whole of food culture - what we eat, how we produce and cook it - and the children really enjoy this aspect of our curriculum. Many people comment on how food orientated we are, which I feel is invaluable because we have been identified as an area with a high obesity problem.

What have been the challenges?

Getting staff on board and changing the way we work was a challenge. Previously, staff had been too focussed on the QCA standards, but working with the Food for Life Partnership has resulted in a much more meaningful curriculum.

To get staff engaged and involved, we started by talking about the issues facing our children, we reviewed our curriculum, and more importantly we talked about what we envisioned for our children. Since then, we’ve made sure that the Food for Life Partnership is constantly on the agenda. We’ve appointed ‘champions’ among the staff, so we have a cooking champion, a gardening champion and a farming champion, and we strive to make everything fun. Seeing how enthusiastic the children are, and knowing how much I, as the headteacher, value the Food for Life Partnership are also a big factor in getting and keeping staff on board.

What and how much was involved in going for Gold? Was this a big step from Silver?

We always saw the Food for Life Partnership as a journey - what we need to do to achieve Gold and not as three separate awards. Our action plan, which was written in January 2009, included the steps we needed to take to get to Gold, including who would be responsible for getting us there.
Seeing the Partnership as a journey meant that once we got started and got the ball rolling everything fell into place. For example, the children and their families already look after the chickens and guinea pigs - we’re now looking into keeping pigs in the school.

Who was instrumental in achieving Gold?

The Food for Life Partnership lead, the school cook, the catering team, staff, pupils, the SNAG group, myself - we've all worked together. But the enthusiasm displayed by myself and the children really helps to keep everyone engaged.

What advice do you have for other schools looking at going for Gold?

It needs to be carefully planned, and pupils, parents and staff all need to be on board with support from headteacher and caterers. If that’s in place, the Gold award can be achieved. Going for Gold needs to be seen as a journey.

How does the school/pupils benefit from the Gold award? Would you recommend it to other schools?

Pupils have the opportunity to cook, grow and farm. It links in with the curriculum, and it gets staff, pupils and parents working together. Importantly, the school cook is now seen as a valued member of the school and not as a separate unit.

We’re offering children life skills. On Friday afternoons we have what’s called ‘university’, so called because the children themselves choose two different activities ranging from cooking, growing and other Food for Life Partnership-inspired activities to sport, first aid and beauty therapy. We open up a restaurant on ‘university’ nights, which involves children setting up the canteen to make it look like a restaurant and taking bookings, and we have a school shop, which sells goods and produce made or grown in school workshops. Every fortnight, we offer a roast dinner for people in the local community and we have a maximum of 40 guests each time. The children serve the guests, which is a great way for them to mix with the community. These skills are invaluable. A lot of families don’t know how to cook and, as I said, obesity is a problem in our area.

Does the Food for Life Partnership fit in with other government initiatives? If so, how or which ones?

The Food for Life Partnership complements Every Child Matters, a skills-based curriculum, a creative curriculum and Future Leaders. We’ve found that the Food for Life Partnership naturally links in with the curriculum, particularly English and Maths. In fact, it has become the focus of our curriculum.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

If you would like to visit our school please contact Rowena Herbert (Headteacher) or Helen Rawson (Food for Life Partnership Lead) on 01246 822324