“I am most proud of the work I have done to set up the green house. I am growing carrots and tomatoes to give to the kitchen”

Pupils have loved getting involved with this and have set up an ‘eco warriors’ group to monitor food waste: “The dinner ladies make good, nutritious food and it shouldn’t be wasted.” They won their peers on side by displaying photos of the bins full of food waste each day. “People were saying, urgh, yuck, why are you showing us photos of that! We said it is disgusting but it is OUR waste, we need to do something about it!” Now, food waste has reduced thanks to pupils using reusable containers, composting food waste, and having a say in what is served each day. In lessons, pupils have been cooking using leftovers, such as pasta, to see how they can reduce food waste whilst making healthy meals.

As well as this, the school have been making the most of their school garden by including school-grown veg in school meals and holding two community growing events each year. One pupil shared that they are most proud of “the work I have done to set up the green house. I am growing carrots and tomatoes to give to the kitchen.”

Children are more likely to try food that they’ve grown themselves, so having a thriving school garden has meant more pupils are trying fruit and veg. To support this, the school have also been running TastEd sessions to introduce their pupils to the look, feel and taste of various fruit and veg. This has been successfully integrated into their cooking sessions, with a Year 2 teacher sharing: “as part of our topic we were making salad. Before we made them, we explored and tasted lots of different ingredients and then the children decided what they wanted to include. They had to make sure that it was balanced using the Eatwell Plate to guide them.”

Their Food for Life work has continued since achieving the award, with their initiatives around food waste, hearing pupil voice, and growing their own food still in place.

Priscilla Jordan, headteacher at St Mary’s Catholic School, shared that “After working closely with Food for Life in 2022/23, we are pleased that lots of the Food for Life work put into place has carried on, including the Eco Warriors keeping an eye on food waste; doing a survey to find out peoples favourite vegetable so that it can be include every day at lunchtime, the school kitchen are still using some of the produce that we grow; we still keep in touch with The Bee Farmer and the children are still having sensory food education lessons to explore food.”

A big well done to St Mary’s Catholic School from everyone at Food for Life. Your commitment to good food is inspiring and we’re pleased to have been able to support you in all these fantastic good food achievements.