17 November 2011 – Oldfield Park Junior School in Bath scooped a Silver award at the South West Awards Ceremony on Tuesday 15 November and spoke to Ben Prater at BBC Radio Bristol about their amazing 18-month Food for Life Partnership journey.
The Awards Ceremony, which took place at Council House in Bristol, celebrated the fabulous achievements of nine schools from the South West and five school caterers.
Julie Butler, deputy head at Oldfield Park, said: "All of the schools have worked really hard. We’ve been on the Food for Life Partnership journey for the past 18 months, so we know what’s gone on behind the scenes in getting the awards. I admire all the schools here today."
Ben Prater asked pupils Lauren and Isabel what the Food for Life Partnership was all about."
Isabel said: "We do gardening club, cooking club and all the food that we grow we give to the cooks and they cook it up."
Lauren said: "I do the cooking club and I quite like that because we get the vegetables from the gardening club to cook with." She told listeners how to make a chilli con carne – her favourite dish to make – and how to cut onions without crying. As most pupils in Food for Life Partnership schools know, the trick is not to cut the root part of the onion.
School cook Sarah Arthur (pictured below right) said: "The children have grown an awful lot of veg over the last 18 months – they’ve also got a lovely herb garden – and we use up the produce throughout the year.
"We also have parents coming in to eat with us, because they remember what school meals were like for them. We’ve had some surprised parents who’ve said that our meals are lovely because they thinking about what they ate for their school lunches."
Turning back to deputy head Julie Butler, Ben asked: "Are the children brighter, sparkier and more intelligent?"
"Definitely," Julie replied.
Listen to BBC Radio Bristol (2 hours 38 minutes in)
Ben Prater also interviewed Jeanette Orrey, school meals policy advisor for the Food for Life Partnership, and the former school cook who inspired Jamie Oliver’s school food campaign.
The 9 schools awarded are:
GOLD
Collaton St Mary C of E Primary School, Paignton, Devon
Ladysmith Infant School, Exeter, Devon
Milton on Stour CE Primary School, Gillingham, Dorset
SILVER
Haydonleigh Primary School, Swindon, Wiltshire
Lady Modiford Primary School, Yelverton, Devon
Oldfield Park Junior School, Bath
Penair School, Truro, Cornwall
Poole Grammar School, Poole, Dorset
St Mary’s C of E Primary School, Bridport, Dorset
Silver schools serve school meals on plates, not flight trays, and a range of locally sourced, free range and organic items are served and no fish from unsustainable sources is served. The school has a cooking club, and pupils get to cook with and eat the produce grown in the school growing area. Parents and the wider community get involved in food education via food-themed events.
Gold schools are hubs of good food culture in their community, actively involving parents and community groups in cooking and growing activity. School meals are at least 75% freshly prepared, 50% local and 30% organic, and more than 70% of pupils are choosing to eat school meals. Every pupil learns to cook and has the opportunity to grow food, and groups of pupils are actively involved in the life of a local farm.