Literacy | Food for Thought: Education Fund

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

EVENTS AT ANDOVER

Andover Primary was successful in applying for a bid from Food for Thought in September 2013. This meant we had a grant of £5000 to support the development of food education and an understanding of the provenance of local food as well as developing additional links with the community.

A link was developed with a Nutritionist at Robert Gordon’s University and several community events were planned at which pupils, mainly those attending the School Cooking Club, could showcase their skills.

The first event was a Harvest Meal in October. This was sourced, with support from Brechin Community Council, from many local producers. The menu was selected following a competition for Scottish dishes organised within the Brechin cluster. The winning dishes were prepared by the children in school.

Prior to the meal every child in Andover (a big school) visited a local producer and did follow up activities. This was funded through the project and organised with the help of Carol Littlewood from RHET. Visits included a dairy farm, smoking house, strawberry farm, poultry farm, an arable farm as well as the co-operative farm in Blairgowrie.

Over one hundred guests attended the supper.

This month a Scottish Event is being hosted. Not only will guests enjoy a three course Scottish meal, but entertainment including music and poetry.

All pupils now have a much greater understanding of where our food is grown and its journey. The Cooking Club pupils in particular have a very good knowledge, understanding and practical experience of basic cooking skills including using a knife correctly, the importance of a varied diet, including fruit, eating together, manners and basic food hygiene.

Many of the Health and wellbeing outcomes have been achieved and everyone has had a lot of fun and enjoyment.

Liz Howson

Andover Primary School

On Friday 8^th November 2013, the Primary 7 class from Tulliallan Primary hosted a Sustainability Event to which they invited all classes and also parents and carers.

The event was an opportunity for the children to share their learning about Climate Change and sustainability. Prior to the event, Primary 7 spent lots of time in class learning about the causes and impact of climate change. They also worked with Primary 5 to learn more about Food Miles, the impact these have on the environment and about local, in-season produce. This work was then developed further with P7 carrying out Maths activities to investigate the food miles of various recipes, sharing their learning with Primary 3 and then buddying up with Primary 3 to bake using local produce.

The end result was a Café area that served the food created by P3 and P7 and a trade show in the Primary 7 classroom to highlight the benefits of reusing food packaging waste.

Watch our movie, Review of Learning, to find out more and to hear what we learned from this event!