Tick off Bronze for... Hosting a garden party or similar event

12 July 2011 – To celebrate the end of term, the fantastic work you’ve been doing with the Food for Life Partnership and hopefully the warm weather, you might be thinking of holding a ‘garden party’ or similar event and this could see you ticking off Bronze, Silver and Gold criteria.  

Criteria

Bronze: We hold an annual event on a food theme for our pupils, parents and the wider community.
Silver: We hold events to involve parents and/or the wider community in growing and cooking activities.
Gold: Our parents can buy or collect organic and/or local produce at our school, or we direct them to alternative local outlets.

Resources

This events resource gives you some ideas for holding cooking and/or growing events at your school, from summer food celebrations to seed swapping days.

Check out the Food for Life Partnership website for a checklist, guidance and the perfect summery recipes for cooking outdoors.

School blog

The Gartree Community School in Lincolnshire is busy getting ready for its upcoming summer fete on 15 July. The school’s Let’s Get Cooking club is creating a calendar and recipe book and cooking up delicious food to sell, while the school is organising archery, a bouncy castle, pitch n putt, go-carting, five-a-side football, a dance display, a student band and choir and lots, lots more. Read the blog.

Case study

Oakdene Primary School in Stockton-on-Tees organises open days for parents and the local community every term. For the past two summer terms, the school has invited the community in for a garden party, making sure that everyone gets involved in food-themed activities.

Liz Bramley, Headteacher at Oakdene, says: "We are in a very deprived area and I wanted to create a farm festival feel because a lot of the parents will never have access to anything like this."

A case study on Oakdene School will be on the website soon. More case studies related to farming, cooking, growing and school meals are available on the Food for Life Partnership website.

BBC Best Dinner Lady / Caterer Award

The BBC is looking for cooks ‘who make mealtimes in our schools a delight’. "We're looking for tasty and healthy food prepared on the premises with fresh, carefully sourced ingredients, particularly in our less celebrated institutions."

The deadline for entries is midnight on 14 August, and the winning school will be feature on BBC’s Radio 4’s The Food Programme as well as BBC local radio. For more information visit the BBC website.