Taking the kitchen into the classroom

4 hours ago

Patrick O'HaganBBC Berkshire political reporter

News image — Newbury's John Rankin school has its own fully equipped kitchen paid for by funds raised by its Parents, Teachers and Friends Association

BBC Four primary school children wearing read aprons over their white shirts stand next to each other looking off to their right where their teacher -who's out of shot- talks them through a recipe. They're standing in a bright white kitchen classroom with windows behind them. — Newbury's John Rankin school has its own fully equipped kitchen paid for by funds raised by its Parents, Teachers and Friends Association

More than one in five children in their last year of primary school live with obesity, according to government figures.

Many people in the food and health industry believe a solution could be to run more hands-on cookery lessons in schools.

But with primary school head teachers short on classroom space and funds though, that's easier said than done.

An educational company set up by the renowned chef and TV star Prue Leith thinks it can help. It's offering a free programme where pupils learn how to cook without ever leaving the classroom.

Leiths Education says several hundred schools have already adopted the idea of taking the kitchen into the classroom and wants to roll the programme out to every school in the country.

While teaching children how to chop vegetables and create dishes at their desks, cooking meals on induction hobs that are wheeled in and out of the classroom will work for some, Newbury's John Rankin Nursery, Infants and Juniors takes a more traditional approach.

It's larger than a lot of primary schools and has its own fully equipped kitchen paid for by funds raised by its Parents, Teachers and Friends Association (PTFA).

Head teacher Flora Cooper says: "Having this kitchen, having this resource is a game-changer. It is fantastic, it is the only way we are able to create cooking as part of the curriculum."

John Rankin headteacher Flora Cooper is standing in front of a kitchen island with a microwave and small chest fridge behind it. She's wearing a dark blue blazer which has red, white and green vertical stripes on it. Smiling broadly she has a red open neck shirt underneath the jacket. — Head teacher Flora Cooper says their kitchen classroom is worth every penny

Year 6 pupils spend as much as two hours at a time chopping onions, grating carrots and stirring mince or its vegetarian equivalent as they prepare spaghetti bolognese under the watchful eyes of their teacher Maria Curtis.

"It's trying to ignite a passion of theirs, giving them the opportunities which they might not ordinarily have to try things which are brand new to them," she said.

For 10-year-old Edith it's a chance to pick up new skills she hopes will prove useful later in life.

"When you're like an adult you'll need to cook and if you don't do it in school you might not ever learn," she says.

John Rankin is one of the lucky ones as the days of schools having their own kitchen are long gone. Space is often at a premium in primary schools and even where that's not the case, the costs of fitting one are too steep for most.

Leiths Education says it is still possible to teach children the necessary skills though without them ever having having to leave the classroom.

Schools which adopt its free programme are sent video tutorials showing pupils and teachers how to create meals and children are given chopping boards, knives and other essential utensils.

Maria Dunbar, Leiths Education's chief executive officer, said: "It's a completely new approach to delivering high quality, practical cookery lessons from a classroom with boxes of equipment that can be put away until you pull them out for the next lesson.

"It works absolutely brilliantly."

Leiths Education A large TV monitor is on a wall in front of a group of primary aged school children. They're watching someone grate a carrot on a traditional four sided steel grater. Graters, plastic bowls and various vegetables in another bowl are in front of them on their own school desks. — Using video tutorials, pupils are taught to cook while sitting at their desks

In 2014, the then-Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition introduced a new Act saying schools needed to do more to make children and parents more aware of what makes a meal healthy and nutritious.

Welcomed by many in the food education field, experts pointed out that was only half the story, saying schools should also run more hands-on cookery lessons.

The current Labour government says it wants to help raise the "healthiest generation of children in history" with the school curriculum focusing on helping pupils "learn about food and nutrition, including how to cook healthy, nutritious meals".

Leiths Education's Maria Dunbar says she hopes a government review of how food and nutrition is taught in schools, which is expected to be published next year, will help rebalance the scales.