A golden day with Collaton St Mary primary school

6 February 2013 – We spent a fantastic day at gold School Collaton St Mary’s C of EVA primary school in Paignton seeing FFLP in action and opening their brand new kitchen.

Funding support for the new kitchen came from the local diocese after seeing the outstanding work kitchen manager Sam Ward and her team were doing in a very restricted space.

Sam has played a major role in the school’s journey to gold – prior to her joining, lunches were taxied in from a nearby school and were re-heated in the servery area. They were only eaten by around 35 pupils each day. Pupils enjoying their roast dinner

The whole school has worked extremely hard to transform their lunchtime experience and daily take up is now at around 100 increasing to 135 on when roast dinner is on the menu. Having been treated to a delicious lunch of roast pork, complete with apple sauce and pigs in blankets prepared by pupils, we can see why!

Sam also plays a central role in ensuring food education is integrated into the school day, working to support the school’s vision to enhance the children’s education through all aspects of school life
with a commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles through cooking, growing and farming visits, allowing them to make informed choices of their own.

Read more about how they’ve achieved FFLP Gold here.

Jeanette chatting to pupils We were lucky enough to see this in action when the school put on a full day of activities to celebrate, including cooking classes, a healthy packed lunch workshop, tour of the garden and a very informative update from the SNAG group.

The day finished with a wonderful assembly, where Jeanette Orrey officially opened the kitchen. Parents and guests were then treated to a presentation by children on how all the elements of the FFLP programme came together to form panels of the “Food for Life umbrella” at their school.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Sam, Mrs Platt and all staff and pupils at Collaton St Mary for an inspirational day. You can see some great photos, including the fantastic menu by visiting the FFLP Facebook page – and don’t forget to ‘like’ us while you are there.

The Food for Life Partnership is a network of schools and communities across England committed to transforming food culture. Together we are revolutionising school meals, reconnecting children and young people with where their food comes from, and inspiring families to grow and cook food.