Background

Learners in Cumbrae Primary School originally received Food for Thought Funding in 2018 (Phase 6) and used it to develop their outdoor growing areas. The initial funding provided the catalyst for the school to build on their success and to develop food and health education in new and exciting ways year on year.

This exemplar shows how funding for one year can inspire a school and a community and can have long reaching impact several years later.

The exemplar includes the original application for funding, powerpoints which illustrate outdoor cooking and learning, documentation to illustrate how they have worked with chickens, information about their new cooking club and a useful self-evaluation document.

What was done?

With initial funding the school set out to cultivate healthy food directly from seed to provide school, community groups and families with organic produce. They wanted to develop ambitious healthy mind and exercise programmes which would benefit the whole island.

The neighbouring church provided some land and growing began. The slides and documents attached will detail how they set up their growing areas and how they focussed on sustainability when doing so.

With growing underway the school went on to set up a monthly Café for the wider community providing a range of baking and healthy options with tea/coffee and the opportunity for people to connect with each other. The café is part of the school’s strategic plan to provide young people with opportunities for wider achievement and the development of skills for learning, life and work.

The project focussed very effectively on working with local partners and they were able to source some further funding and assistance from Wild Outside (based in Prestwick).

How to use this exemplar to improve practice?

You are invited to use this exemplar to reflect on the following questions:

• In what ways does the curriculum provision in your establishment incorporate growing food and practical cookery?
• To what extent are partners involved in delivering meaningful, work related experiences for learners and the delivery of skills?
• What potential partnerships with local agencies could enhance your learning approaches?
• How can you ensure that learner engagement and working in partnership with the community is embedded in the school and valued by all staff?

Download(s)

PDF file: Food for Thought Funding (Phase 6) Application Form (290 KB)

PDF file: Leading Our Learning Outdoors (1.6 MB) - this illustrates how the school took cooking outdoors

PDF file: Plant to Plate presentation (1.6 MB) - this includes self-sustainability, ecosystems, no-dig philosophy, preservation techniques and two films from their community café

PDF file: Chickens – pre-project evaluation (109 KB)

PDF file: Chickens – evaluation results (395 KB)

PDF file: Chickens routine (139 KB)

PDF file: Eat Well for Less Cooking Programme (319 KB)

PDF file: Cooking Club Flyer (240 KB)

PDF file: Learning for Sustainability Self Evaluation (239 KB)

What was the impact?

This was a very successful initial project (2018) which has resulted in every learner in the school using their growing areas to develop their skills and knowledge. In making sure the learners were gaining hands on experience of growing, cooking, serving and eating food this initial project has inspired them to create their community café and to set up a chicken coop and a cooking club.

The initial project has really strengthened and expanded over the years with outdoor cooking now also being a feature of their learning.

Staff and learners alike now have increased enthusiasm for learning around Food and Health and plan to continue to develop this valuable area of the curriculum.