News

Overdale joined Food for Life seven years ago and since then they have developed a healthy tuck shop, taught children about food provenance and hosted farming trips for the children to enjoy.

Juliet Hart, head teacher at Overdale Junior School, said: “The Gold Food for Life award is prestigious and gives recognition to the tremendous work of the staff, in particular our Food for Life lead Mrs Cooper.

“It acknowledges the excellent opportunities the children and families have had following this initiative. The Food for Life programme has become an integral part of the diverse learning experiences we offer.”

During lockdown Overdale hosted online cookery lessons and created recipe PowerPoints for children to learn from at home. The children who remained in school received food parcels and helped to plant vegetables.

To receive a Gold Award, schools must:

• Act as hubs for their local community, actively involving parents and community groups in cooking and growing activities.  
• Meet Gold Food for Life Served Here standards which shows the food served is healthy, ethical, uses lots of local ingredients and is animal and climate friendly, including a minimum of 15% organic and 5% free range. 
• Pupils choosing to eat a school meal is the norm.
• Are actively involved in the life of a local farm and active in planning and growing organic food for the school.