This year’s International School Meals Day centres around the theme of ‘Innovation in school meals: new routes to sustainable nutrition’.
It provides an opportunity to reflect on how we can build sustainable food systems whilst developing a child’s sense of connection to their food.
One innovative and holistic approach to developing sustainable nutrition and food literacy education is the edible classroom.
This involves hands-on experiences in producing and consuming food.
St Edmund Campion school in West Bridgford is an active participant in this.
Pupils from the school currently use their allotment currently to grow food and, thanks to Nottingham Trent University, are gaining their own indoor hydroponic grower.
This provides opportunities for children and young people to engage with the food system, and often, for a portion of the school’s fresh produce to have been grown by the children themselves.
Working alongside Edible Classrooms, a Nottingham based Social Enterprise, the children have been instilled with a sense of connection to where their food comes from which builds confidence and develops curiosity. These environments also provide space for important questions to be asked – “Why does my food come in plastic?”, “Why are there no strawberries in the garden now?”, “How can we grow more food?”, and most frequently “Why do these tomatoes taste better?”.
The school recently visited the Brackenhurst campus and learned all about how to grow crops without soil (Hydroponically) and vertically (Vertical Farming).
These are both incredibly important ideas that are the future of sustainable farming.
International School Meals Day is on 14 March.
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