Food for Life Partnership

How to get kids to eat Brussels sprouts...

The Food for Life Partnership is working to transform the way people think about food in England by supporting schools, young people, their parents and communities to grow and cook local, seasonal and organic food and eat healthily.

One of the schools participating in the scheme is St John
the Baptist, a primary school in Hoxton, East London. All school dinners at the school are now freshly prepared, the meat is organic and the vast majority of the fruits and vegetables are seasonal and local. The uptake of school meals is now 72 per cent.

Some of the produce used in the school dinners comes from the school's amazing garden, which is living proof that inner city schools surrounded by concrete can still get a taste of growing their own food. Roughly a third of the playground has been dug up and made into beds and the school is hoping that in five years' time, 15 per cent of the produce used in school dinners will come from the school garden.

Gardener Steve Mason (pictured) and the children grow anything from garlic and grapes to potatoes, tomatoes and herbs. Steve enthuses:

'When we harvested Brussels sprouts, one kid popped a raw one in his mouth and all of a sudden all the children were eating raw sprouts - I was worried they would get stomach ache and had to tell them to stop. Who would have thought you would ever have to tell primary school pupils to stop eating Brussels sprouts?'

Donna Miller, the school cook has been at St John's for eight years. She says:

'Now I know exactly what goes into our food. It has been hard work to get here, but I feel much more fulfilled now and I really enjoy interacting more with the children through, for example, the Food Forum.'

The Food Forum is made up of six girls ranging from years 4 to 6. Last year the Forum was responsible for changing the dining hall to make it a nice environment to eat in. This year the forum is in charge of talking about food at assemblies; organising a healthy tuck shop; checking packed lunches for healthiness; and, not least, representing the pupils' opinions of the school meals.

Rokaya, Year 6, explains:

'We want to put up a food table outside in the playground with questionnaires because we don't really know whether the children like the food or not. We think it will be nice for Donna to know, so she doesn't have to cook food that will just go to waste.'

When members of the Food Forum are asked why they joined, Helen, Year 4, says 'I wanted to be part of the Food Forum because I think I can make a difference to the food in our school.' They all nod in agreement and get up to perform their conclusive rap:

'Eating good food is really cool
That's what they serve us at this school
Beans and peas and potatoes and bread
When we eat it we will feel well fed
Healthy food helps us think and run
So let's get with it everyone!'

To view a video of a Food for Life Partnership school in action, click here.

To vote for the Food for Life Partnership in The National Lottery Awards, click here or call 0844 686 1435.

Click here to visit the NLA Health Project finalists homepage on iVillage.