27 November 2025
Park Primary School in Colne has proudly achieved Food for Life Gold, making history as Lancashire’s first primary school to reach this milestone. This recognition celebrates the school’s commitment to embedding a positive food culture at the heart of school life and the transformational work they have put into this.
Food for Life was commissioned by Lancashire County Council in 2023 to help primary schools embed a whole-school approach to food—boosting knowledge, accessibility, and enjoyment of healthy, sustainable meals while tackling childhood obesity and health inequalities. Building on the success of the Sustainable Food Places food partnerships across Lancashire and Food for Life Served Here accreditation for 90% of school caterers in Lancashire, this partnership joins up the programmatic areas of work from Food for Life and the Soil Association and the ambitions of access to healthy food for all for Lancashire County Council.
Two and a half years into the programme, 124 schools are enrolled and 184 teaching staff trained across Lancashire, building confidence to create growing spaces, prioritise minimally processed foods, and integrate food education into the curriculum.
This week, we hosted a celebration event in the forest school for 17 pupils and their parents, alongside teachers and local council representatives, including Senior Public Health Practitioner Maureen Duffy and Public Health Specialist Michelle Brides. Everyone gathered to experience the joys of learning outside and to see how Park Primary has transformed its approach to healthy, sustainable eating. The school focuses on hands-on growing, cooking, and nutrition activities, empowering children to develop lifelong healthy habits and a deeper understanding of food and the environment.
Park Primary’s success reflects a vibrant food culture. Highlights include:
Park Primary’s achievement as Lancashire’s first Food for Life Gold school is truly inspiring. The way children are learning to grow, cook and share food, while developing a love for the outdoors, shows the real value of embedding healthy, sustainable habits in school life. This award reflects the dedication of pupils, staff and families, and I am proud to see such commitment to both wellbeing and community in Colne.
Seeing the children apply their learning and skills to confidently prepare soup using their school garden produce, cook it on the campfire and then share with their parents' and teachers was heartwarming. The pride and joy the children, families, teachers and community gain from their flourishing forest school garden is inspiring.
We see our forest school garden as our outdoor classroom! Providing this opportunity for the children to positively work together with planting, harvesting and completing garden jobs has transformed engagement.
Parents have also noticed the impact:
It’s brilliant to watch my son enjoying the outdoors and getting involved with the cooking together with his friends. It’s a wonderful space and facility for our school.