> JUNE 2008

BROOKBURN PRIMARY SCHOOL, CHORLTON CUM HARDY, MANCHESTER – FOOD FOR LIFE PARTNERSHIP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

If variety is the spice of life as well as the basis of a healthy diet, then the children of Brookburn Primary in Manchester should be well on the way to prosperity! Over the week that the FFLP-supported Cooking Bus visited them - and with the help at one session of Simon Rimmer from the celebrated Greens restaurant, plus his four-year-old son - pupils were kept busy creating Tomato and Basil Tartlets, Local Cheese and Pear Bruschetta, Potato and Beetroot Salad, Saag Aloo Tikka, Cheesy Stuffed Courgettes and Mediterranean Potato Salad – and for the ‘icing on the cake’: Berried Treasure! Attractive and eye-catching presentation from the clever pupils made the results even more mouth-watering and tempting. And not only that: but many of the ingredients used during the week were sourced locally and organically, doing the school’s high-focus food agenda even more credit. Keep up the good work, Brookburn. You have Silver (National Healthy Schools award); now aim for Gold!

WOMBWELL PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL, BARNSLEY – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

‘Properly peppered with people’ is how most of the Wombwell Park Primary School community in Barnsley might describe the week’s visit of the Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus! Not only were parents and staff in evidence in abundance, but the school was visited by BBC Radio Sheffield, Dearne Valley FM and the Barnsley Chronicle – plus school nurses, school governors, Healthy Schools co-ordinators, the Extended Schools co-ordinator, two representatives from Sport for Life and a policeman (only there to sniff out the cooking, of course!). What a cross-section of the community – all eager and interested to see, if not achieve hands-on, the healthy food sessions on offer from the Cooking Bus team. Not forgetting, of course, the pupils – who had a fine time preparing their delicious dishes. The staff training sessions were chock-a-block as well: attended by the Headteacher, teachers and teaching assistants, the ladies who run the cookery club and member of staff from the Barnsley ‘5-a-day’ team! Now that’s the spirit that earns Healthy School status and helps the whole region get healthier!

ROBSACK WOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL, EAST SUSSEX – FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Robsack Wood Primary School near St Leonards in Hastings has already brought home gold: a Gold award in Healthy School status, and so is already a fine model in food and health for other schools in the region to follow. The school is an Eco school, with its own abundant vegetable garden where they grow lots of seasonal produce. With the Cooking Bus sited at the nearby high school, Robsack Wood pupils, teachers and parents made the short journey each day for the noble cause of developing enhanced food-preparation skills such as whisking (salad dressing), mixing (ingredients for Spinach and Cheese Parcels), folding (Vegetable Samosas), juicing (lemon juice for dressings), pouring (salad dressing into salad) and spooning (salad into serving dish). Staff also benefited from the sessions and were particularly delighted at the prospect of a brand-new COOKIT for the school. The overall levels of enthusiasm from the various quarters of the school over the week were very heartening indeed.

LINDSEY SCHOOL, CLEETHORPES – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Interest and curiosity were summoned from many quarters – not least the media – when the Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus visited the Lindsey School in Cleethorpes. Thanks largely to good organization and enthusiastic planning from the school itself, pupil, staff and parent involvement were harnessed successfully to create a fascinating week of eye-opening cooking sessions. Even the BBC felt impelled to come and have a look – and to interview pupils and staff for a live radio interview at the same time! What proved most rewarding for the Cooking Bus team was the number of people – pupils especially – who, while they may have been reluctant at first to try new foods and tackle new recipes, were amazed at their own achievements and returned to the Bus to tell the staff so. Hopefully, all those much-enlightened new chefs will go on to improve and enhance their own – and their family’s – diet and lifestyles for many years to come!

TROEDYRHIW COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL, MERTHYR TYDFIL – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

It is in the eating that we find the proof of the pudding - and people at Treodyrhiw Community Primary School on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil, if tentative to start with, were by the end of the week eating their words, literally, having hugely enjoyed all the activities relating to food and cooking that had been tailored to them by the Cooking Bus team. Sited in the local fire station, the Cooking Bus was accessed each day by pupils in the school minibus. Pupil, Community and teacher training sessions were all offered, and amongst the culinary achievements of the week featured Calzone, Fresh Fruit Salad and Smoothies. The local newspaper covered the visit, and it was clear that all at Troedyrhiw were sad to see the Cooking Bus leave and will be more than keen for a return visit.

TAKELEY PRIMARY SCHOOL, HERTFORDSHIRE – FOOD FOR LIFE PARTNERSHIP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Going for gold - despite limitations on space and other facilities - is the ongoing goal of Takeley Primary School in Hertfordshire, following their visit from the FFLP-supported Cooking Bus. The ongoing aim at Takeley is to get their complement of cooking teaching increased – and this goal will remain firmly on their food and health agenda. The school responded most enthusiastically and courteously to the week’s cooking and food-related activities, with pupils taking particular interest in the making of their Tomato and Basil Tartlets, Potato and Beetroot Salad, Pear and White Stilton Bruschetta and Fruit Kebabs. Adult enthusiasm was greatly in evidence as well, with both parents and teachers keenly supporting the training and Community sessions. Food ingredients were, where possible, both local and organic, another important sign that Takeley has the health of school community very high on its agenda.

STUDY UNITED CENTRE, SCUNTHORPE – FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

‘The day could not have been better.’ ‘I couldn’t believe the Bus. It was out of this world.’ These were some of the remarks made at the end of the Cooking Bus week by youngsters who began it with a perhaps slightly less positive outlook. This was the week when the FSA-supported Cooking Bus visited the Study United Centre based at Heslam Park Cricket and Rugby Club in Scunthorpe - and left with only praise and improved cooking motivation amongst its learners! Groups of children from Scunthorpe attend the centre during and after school – as do other community groups, including this time a senior citizens community group. As so often happens in this case, mixing the two age groups together worked well, with the adults supporting the children and the children then becoming very enthusiastic about the delicious dishes they were making and more willing to try different foods. Simon Sparks from BBC Look North filmed part of the session and spoke to some of the amazed young chefs, and to the staff from both the Centre and the Cooking Bus. The Cooking Bus team reported that the Study United staff could not have been more friendly and helpful, and that they were very impressed with the skills that the children had developed from the sessions. All participants have registered their enthusiasm for a return visit from the Cooking Bus.

ST HELEN’S PRIMARY SCHOOL, SWANSEA – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The visit of the Welsh Assembly Government-supported Cooking Bus to St Helen’s School in Swansea – or rather to the nearby recreation ground in Oyster Mouth Road, to which the pupils happily walked each day – was voted both hugely enjoyable and highly successful by the Cooking Bus team, largely due to the enthusiasm received from the school from start to finish. This well-run establishment helped enormously to make the whole week run smoothly, and parents pupils and teachers were all truly ‘on side’ to put healthy food high on the agenda. With a high proportion of Bangladeshi and Pakistani children on the school’s roll, multicultural dishes were high on the menu – classics such as Vegetable Samosas and Chicken Ruby, the latter featuring both free range and Halal meat - but some old Focus on Food favourites featured as well: Sunset Pasta Salad and Fresh Fruit Salad and Berry and Lime Refresher, for example.

KINGS MEADOW PRIMARY SCHOOL, AINSDALE, SOUTHPORT – FOOD FOR LIFE PARTNERSHIP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The FFLP-supported Cooking Bus team will long remember Kings Meadow Primary School, for a number of positive reasons, but not least of which will be the memory of luscious lettuces delivered – freshly harvested and beautifully presented - to the Bus each day for use in the recipes the children who had grown them were to prepare. Kings Meadow takes its cooking and healthy eating very seriously indeed: in addition to its well-appointed cooking area, the school has an established growing and composting area and Year 6 are currently growing a wide range of vegetables and herbs, including the memorable Curly lettuce, Swiss chard, Webbs Wonder and a selection of herbs, such as mint, chives, flat- and curly-leaf parsley. Additional ingredients were sourced locally and organically, where possible. Decidedly ‘rural’ in most ways (Kings Meadow lies on the edge of Ainsdale village and is bordered by a lot of woodland and green spaces), the school is currently involved in the Sefton Healthy School scheme, aiming to raise standards, support the personal and social development of pupils, and improve the health and well-being of the whole school community. The school has achieved all of the 12 standards in the scheme. A credit to you, Kings Meadow.

BRYNAMAN (AND YSTRADOWEN) SCHOOL(S), CWMLLYNFELL, SWANSEA – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

It was pats on the back from not just one, but two, schools as the Welsh Assembly Government-supported Cooking Bus prepared reluctantly to leave Brynaman School in the beautiful Amman Valley in Carmarthenshire - right on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park – after a very successful week. The Bus, for logistical reasons, needed to be sited four miles away from Brynaman: at Ystradowen School whose pupils and teachers also got the benefit of some of the expert cooking lessons on offer. And much of it in the Welsh language, to boot! In addition to the delicious recipes prepared, Welsh Food Fortnight was introduced and the box of INSET resources were much in use by the teachers for ideas on further teaching after the departure of the Cooking Bus. It was a real feather in the cap of all involved in this ‘diverse’ week when the Headteacher from Ystradowen declared that the whole Cooking Bus experience would be something she would warmly remember long after she retires.

HEATHWOOD LOWER SCHOOL, LEIGHTON BUZZARD, BEDFORDSHIRE – FOOD FOR LIFE PARTNERSHIP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

It was a family affair at Heathwood School in Leighton Buzzard during the week of their Cooking Bus visit – with the community well represented at many of the sessions and parents, children, teachers all working in enthusiastic teams. To complement and reflect the inclusive theme, dishes were prepared from many parts of the world: Spanakopitta from Greece and Caribbean Red Pepper Salsa, for example. Perhaps most popular of all, however, was the Strawberry Ice Cream made from the very strawberries that Heathwood children grew in their own garden. With their own sensory garden, a well-developed vegetable patch, plus a small woodland area with a nature trail, Heathwood children are well along the path to understanding how we grow our food and where the healthiest, freshest food comes from: right under their noses! They even compost and recycle - and additional ingredients for the cooking sessions, where possible, were local and organic. Heathwood should be proud of its efforts to teach children about real foods and real health!

> JULY 2008

COTTENHAM VILLAGE COLLEGE SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE – FOOD FOR LIFE PARTNERSHIP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Cottenham Village College, a mixed 11 - 16 rural community school in Cambridgeshire made it an all-year-groups affair during the week of their visit from the Food for Life Partnership-supported Cooking Bus. Sessions were planned to encourage and support the whole school community in developing cooking activities in pursuit of the Food for Life Partnership Mark and to improve practical cooking skills, using seasonal, local and organic produce. Recently, students at the school have started to develop their own growing area and, while this is still work in progress, it looked very impressive and showed the commitment the school is making to the FFLP project. And also in line with work towards the FFLP Mark, the school sourced high-quality local ingredients (from Les Ward, the local greengrocer) such as tomatoes, raspberries and courgettes, and thereby helped support the sessions about local produce; sessions also focused on the importance of composting and recycling. We were very impressed too by the enthusiasm of the students, not least by the student members of the SNAG group and the Year 7 FFLP Ambassadors, who were very knowledgeable about - and discussed their input into - the FFLP, thereby highlighting the positive outcomes that this project has on students who participate fully. Also worthy of praise and admiration were the students of the GCSE Catering group whose finished products looked very professional indeed; and, during their session on the Bus, the Headteacher presented them with a commendation for their recent work in hosting a community evening meal. These students were not only conscientious with their own cooking work but also most willingly supported the prospective new Year 7 students – and even cheerfully washed-up! Thank you, Cottenham folk, for an excellent week.

BRIERTON COMMUNITY SCHOOL, HARTLEPOOL – FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

It was good to visit Brierton Community School in Hartlepool, not least because the school is due to close down next year, with both pupils and staff needing to find new schools to attend or to work in. But, for the week of the Food Standards Agency-supported Cooking Bus visit at least, according to contact Sue Smith, the students of the school were simply ‘buzzing’ with life. The Cooking Bus, sited at the Sports Centre beside the school, welcomed aboard the eager pupils who were always very punctual and well prepared for the cooking sessions. The focus of the week was upon the benefits of making food from scratch rather than relying on convenience foods – with Brilliant Burgers and Chicken Ruby Curry the dishes chosen to be the ‘proof of the pudding’. Another main focus, linking to Year 10 current coursework, was upon strategies for encouraging teenagers to eat more fruit and vegetables. The message certainly filtered through as it was not long before a local police officer and community support officer were also on the Bus, removing their bullet-proof vests and donning aprons instead, ready for a slightly new angle on young people’s abilities! They watched and helped as the children made delicious Thai Fish Curry and Caribbean Red Pepper Salsa. During the week, Brierton was visited by Dave Hammond from BBC Radio Teeside who conducted a live interview with Cooking Bus staff and Kayleigh, a Year 8 student who impressed us all with, not simply her clear and convincing manner on air, but also with her total support of the importance – and fun – of cooking and how she would like to work in food in the future - perhaps on a Cooking Bus! Our best wishes to Kayleigh – and to all at Brierton for a happy future school – and food education!

KYMIN VIEW PRIMARY SCHOOL, MONMOUTH – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The people from Kymin View Primary School in Monmouth – a brand-new school opened in September 2007 - were keenly anticipating their visit from the Welsh Assembly Government-supported Cooking Bus, not least because they knew that the foods from different parts of the world, so consistently on offer from the Cooking Bus team, would fit perfectly into their themed project for the term: ‘Countries of the World’ – with each year group taking a different country as its focus. Consequently, there was a real multicultural reality to the children’s making of such dishes as Tabbouleh, Calzone, Vegetable Samosas, Chinese Vegetable Spring Rolls and Mint and Tomato Kachumbar. And keen about food – and health - is what Kymin View seems to be all about: it is an Eco School as well as a Healthy School; they run a breakfast club; they offer healthy fruit snacks at break time; they have recently developed a small garden area. They also have a fruit and vegetable co-operative for parents - and they even recycle rainwater to flush the toilets! And the school’s already high levels of enthusiasm only increased as the week went by – with huge mutual thanks expressed at the end of the week.

STOCKBRIDGE TECHNOLOGY CENTRE, SELBY – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Stockbridge Technology Centre is located in Cawood, a rural area of North Yorkshire, close to the town of Selby. The Centre carries out commercial research and educational projects involving 1,000 children from schools within North Yorkshire. A large plot of land is allocated to growing crops, which the children plant and harvest at various times of the year. During the week of the Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus visit to Stockbridge, the children from six local primary schools were busy harvesting and cooking with their own - their very own - potatoes, carrots, broccoli, courgettes, lettuces and tomatoes. Naturally, the children were very positive about their Cooking Bus day at the Centre; they really enjoyed cooking their own produce and were hugely impressed with their own new skills. And as a creditable culmination of their cooking work over the week, the young chefs were visited by BBC Radio York: broadcaster Jonathan Cowap interviewed the Cooking Bus staff and the children and the teachers involved in the activities at the Centre. And like the food, it was live!

BARKWAY V.A. FIRST PRIMARY SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE – FOOD FOR LIFE PARTNERSHIP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The Food for Life Partnership-supported Cooking Bus team had a delightful week at Barkway First Primary School in Cambridgeshire. There was a real community spirit prevailing, making them feel very welcome and valued all throughout the week. Barkway is a distinctly rural school where the children really know their onions: perhaps because they live in an area where so much growing happens, they already know lots about seasonality and locally sourced foods. The Cooking Bus was sited beside fields of crops where the children were even able to recognize different strains of wheat and barley! The pupils from Barkway grow-their-own, right down to the littlies in Reception whose very own new potatoes were used to make their Potato and Beetroot Salad. Other fresh, local produce was sourced from Bury Lane Farm Shop. The children were also well versed in recycling and had a really good knowledge of Food for Life messages. The levels of overall excellence went beyond just the children: there were the clever parents who run the Cooking Club (who, along with others, had a go at making Butternut Squash Cannelloni) and the wonderful group of local senior citizens who put their energies into Saag Aloo Tikki and other Indian dishes. A smoothie workshop with the children was also a great hit. So it’s credit, not just to the school, but to the Barkway community, for being a shining example of a really high-quality food culture.

BROADWINDSOR PRIMARY SCHOOL, DORSET – FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

‘Cookie about cooking!’? ‘Cooking keen!’? Perhaps Broadwindsor Primary School – in a small rural community in Dorset - could coin itself a new (or extra) school motto, following the crowning glory to their positive food work across the year: a visit from the Food Standards Agency-supported Cooking Bus. The team arrived to find that Broadwindsor walls are crammed with pictures of the school’s food work - and to be greeted with the gift of a box of Dorset Apple Cakes! And the school clearly meant to go on as they started: the staff at the school were receptive and enthusiastic, the children were competent and dextrous, and the after-school cooking club team used the week to build on their already strong passion for including cooking activities within the curriculum. And when it was revealed that the school would receive a 100 per cent grant for the purchase of a COOKIT, there were almost tears of appreciation! The COOKIT will certainly be put to good use in this school. As if to reward and recognize Broadwindsor’s eager food work, the school was visited during the week by the Bridport News who made a five-minute video clip of the happy young cooks to play on a weekly video slot on the paper’s website. At the end of the delightful week, with the enthusiasm never waning, the Cooking Bus team were even invited to a whole-school assembly where they were presented with a huge thank-you card and a box of Dorset biscuits. Much appreciated!

ST MARY’S R.C. SCHOOL, HOLYHEAD, ANGLESEY – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Focus on Food had been to St Mary’s School in Holyhead, Anglesey once before so they knew what to expect: a warm Welsh welcome and masses of support for the food-education and cooking programme offered by the Welsh Assembly Government-supported Cooking Bus team. St Mary’s, situated near the centre of the port town, shares its site with St Mary’s Catholic Church and serves the local Roman Catholic and wider community of Holyhead – so they are well used to being open and flexible: as indeed they needed to be, with the Cooking Bus sited at the Leisure Centre to which the children from the school travelled daily by bus. True to St Mary’s form, both school staff and pupils were amenable and positive from the start and ensured that this was, once again, a very successful visit. Amongst the dishes created, tasted and held up for admiration were Vegetable Samosas, Dinca ‘Fala, Roasted Vegetable Cous Cous and Berry and Lime Refresher: a veritable rainbow spectrum of varied dishes from various cultures. And interest was widespread amongst the community, much helped by the visit during the week of a team from the Holyhead and Anglesey Mail newspaper – who were tremendously impressed with the cooking and food work of the community’s youngsters.

HORBURY SCHOOL, WAKEFIELD – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The week that the Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus visited Horbury School in Wakefield was designed to support the Healthy Schools initiatives already in place at the school, and to support the work that Horbury’s Key Stage 3 pupils are doing in Food Technology. The sessions were also designed to encourage students to extend their experiences of ingredients and recipes. But to make the picture even richer, the visit coincided with the school’s Activities Week, so that the range of healthy living options being offered to students that week could be extended and reinforced by the activities on offer on the Cooking Bus. Among the dishes that were made by the increasingly enthusiastic students were Salmon Fishcakes, Kaleidoscope Cous Cous and Banana and Mango Smoothie. By the end of the week, the Cooking Bus team could see that real progress had been made in the pupils’ skills, experience and knowledge – and the children and their teachers were finally pretty positive all round!

PENPYCH COMMUNITY SCHOOL, TREORCHY – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Penpych Community School is situated almost at the top of the Rhondda Valley in a small village called Treherbert – where a brand-spanking-new building now houses what were once two schools - who amalgamated to form the Community School. And what a successful school it is, running like clockwork and devoting much attention to the food and dietary health of the children: it is an Eco school as well as a healthy School; they run a breakfast club; they offer healthy fruit snacks at break time; and they have recently started to cultivate a small garden area – which provided the lettuce for the Lunchbox Wraps session on the Cooking Bus. In fact, staff and pupils were all so consistently supportive of and enthusiastic about the cooking activities offered on the Cooking Bus that the Headteacher came to every session and made sure that he was on hand to help out with sampling all the dishes! (He also took lots of photos!) There is already a specialized facility for teaching Food Technology at Penpych Community School, but they will nonetheless appreciate their new COOKIT so that they can provide consistent follow-up to the new Focus on Food knowledge and skills they all received. And as a fine example to the nation, Penpych was visited during the week by ITV Wales who filmed cooking activities and Year 6 pupils on the Cooking Bus as part of a programme promoting the teaching of cooking in Welsh schools. And the school thanked us effusively for the experience? Well, we thank them for being such guiding lights in their new national food culture!

> AUGUST 2008

WETHERBY DAY CENTRE, DERBY – FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

It was an all-inclusive week during the FSA-supported Cooking Bus’s visit to Wetherby Day Centre in Derby where the Cooking Bus team taught cooking activities to folk between the ages of 18 and 70, mostly with a variety of moderate learning and physical disabilities. The aim of the week was to give the service users sensory a range of opportunities that they might not otherwise experience, so a focus was put on touch and taste, using a wide selection of fruit and vegetables. In addition, all work on the Cooking Bus at the Wetherby Day Centre was linked to the Healthy Lifestyle work covered in the Centre. And it was an experience treasured by all. ‘The buzz in the Centre is amazing,’ one of the Centre’s personnel was heard to say. And both Wetherby staff and the busy cooking bees – the service users - are ‘eating their words’ in the positive, culinary sense of the term and are buzzing-keen to apply for a return visit by the Cooking Bus.

BROADWATER CHILDREN’S CENTRE, TOTTENHAM – FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

A rich multicultural and multi-age experience was awaiting the Cooking Bus team when the FSA-supported Bus pulled into Broadwater Children’s Centre in Tottenham, east London: situated on a large council estate where children abound and where Polish, Somalia and African-Caribbean are amongst the nations represented in the population. The Broadwater Centre works with children and parents to promote the outcomes of the Every Child Matters initiative - focusing especially on the under-fives – and aims to target 900 families annually. The Cooking Bus visit was intended, not just to whet the children’s appetites with the making of delicious food, but also to train staff at the Centre so that they can develop cooking activities further and entice parents into family cooking activities. Amongst the themes selected to attract parents were healthy family meals, summer eating and cooking with children, and the dishes chosen were intended to be easy suggestions for cooking from scratch: such as Tomato and Basil Tartlets and Chilli Bean and Cheese Potatoes. Children attended sessions with their parents and both groups enjoyed the interaction and the opportunity to cook with each other. Best of all, they reported that they loved having the opportunity to make new friends as well as delicious, achievable dishes. The Centre Manager voted the whole week a really valuable self-esteem-building project, especially for the Broadwater parents: ‘Excellent, excellent, excellent!’ in fact!

TORBAY COUNCIL – ACORN CENTRE, TORQUAY – FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The Acorn Community Centre is situated in Lumington on the outskirts of Torquay where, during the summer holidays, the Centre runs a very popular and successful holiday club. It caters for children between 5 and 16 years of age, some of whom have moderate learning difficulties, and it is the focus of a special group of local young people called Junior Street Wardens – who aim to make a really positive difference to relationships within their community. All these groups were to be catered for in the cooking departments of their lives by the visit of the Cooking Bus. And what a successful week it was, partly due to the brilliant organization and co-ordination by the Centre manager. And with numbers attending the sessions changing and growing by the minute, it was a good thing that the Cooking Bus team is such a flexible bunch! And many local people came along to watch and admire the clever cooking work of the participants: the local press (the ‘Torquay Herald Express’), a photographer from the Torbay Council, and Simon Hulstone, chef proprietor of the acclaimed ‘Elephant’ restaurant in Torquay – all of whom voted the cooking work done by the young people as really heart-warming and good to see!

REDDISH VALE TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE OUT-OF-SCHOOL COOKING ACTIVITIES, STOCKPORT, CHESHIRE - FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Reddish Vale Technology College has a very active Extended Schools programme. The Cooking Bus was visiting Reddish Vale to work in conjunction with the programme’s aim to offer out-of-school activities to both young people and their families. Although sessions were originally planned for students aged between 8 and 14, in fact children as young as four attended with their parents; participants also included teenagers, youth workers and community health workers. Sessions were, as usual, informative and stimulating, with the dishes chosen able to be compared in flavour and cost to some of our traditional take–away foods (Chicken Ruby Curry and Fish Cake, for example). An emphasis was placed on how easy it is to cook from scratch and the nutritional benefits of doing so and, by the end of the week, the families - from the tinies to the worldly-wise - were enchanted and tantalized all at the same time. Much of the rest of the holiday, especially given the unrelenting rains of August, was no doubt spent by Reddish Vale families in their kitchens, cooking up a feast!

BAIRD MEMORIAL PRIMARY SCHOOL, CUMBERNAULD, GLASGOW – SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Baird Memorial Primary School people in Cumbernauld were the lucky ‘winners’ of one of the first school visits of the brand-spanking-new and freshly launched Scottish Government/FSAS-supported Cooking Bus as it began its tours of schools and community centres all over Scotland. And, in true start-of-year spirit, children (from Primary 4 –7), their teachers and families got active in all the sessions which were designed by the Cooking Bus team to support, amongst other things, the ‘Hungry for Health’ campaign within the school. And positive was the word: right from the start and from everybody. Pupils were positive about trying new foods and were eager to taste the dishes they had made; teaching staff from the school were positive in their encouragement of the children; and the headteacher, a frequent visitor to the Cooking Bus over the week, stated positively how impressed she was with the work that was being done on the Cooking Bus and that the school supported our healthy eating messages wholeheartedly. Further, she felt that, once the visit was over, more staff would now be inspired to develop cooking within the curriculum, beginning with an after-school club. And continuing the positive spirit, celebrity chef Nick Nairn – a long-time supporter of the Focus on Food Campaign - made a guest appearance on the Cooking Bus and demonstrated how to make two dishes: Vegetable Samosas and Mint and Tomato Kachumbar. He was a great success, impressing both the adults and children – and the interviewer from BBC Radio 1! If all subsequent Scottish Cooking Bus visits are to be as positive and enjoyable as the visit to Baird Primary was, then this new Bus could really positively change the entire eating nation!

> SEPTEMBER 2008

September saw a smart start to the academic year for all the Cooking Buses in Focus on Food’s fleet! Starting the year – like most of the pupils they met – as they mean to go on, they were active, up, running and all over the country! The schools and communities visited are already feeling enriched and better prepared in all things to do with food, health and diet - and sad only to see the Bus leave their locale!

BA SCIENCE FESTIVAL LIVERPOOL – FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The Science Festival is an annual event which takes place at a different university each year. It includes talks, debates, exhibitions, hands-on activities and performances, all with a science focus. Academics from other universities attend to give and to visit lectures, and schoolchildren and their teachers attend for a day of science – to include fascinating cooking sessions on the Cooking Bus. And this year, people and pupils from Norden High School and Sports College, Blackburn, Archbishop Blanch High School, Liverpool, and Beech House School, Rochdale were all represented at the food-preparation benches on the Bus. The sessions were fun, informative and interactive, with many Science connections made, including to microbiology (food-poisoning bacteria, good bacteria in natural yoghurt, and yeast and its function in bread-making), to food acids and alkalis, and to oxidation and enzymic browning. During the week, the Food Standards Agency’s Chief Scientist Andrew Wadge gave a thought-provoking lecture: ‘Dispelling the myths - the truth about science and food’. It included advice on healthy-eating trends, and was extremely resonant with the work consistently done on the Cooking Bus.

PARKLAND JUNIOR SCHOOL EASTBOURNE – FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The FSA-supported Cooking Bus visited Parkland Junior School – for the second time - to make links with the school’s involvement in the Open Futures, GrowIt, CookIt, AskIt, FilmIt project. Parkland is a very food-active school where they have a well-run after-school cooking club and a well-kept school garden where crops are grown. And true to the whole-school ethos of Parkland, sessions on the Cooking Bus were attended by all:
in addition to the pupils, there were governors, teaching staff, office staff and the school gardener! The adults were very lively when making Spanakopitta and Butternut Squash Cous Cous Salad and many were amazed at how easy it was to make them. Not only did the teachers vote the cross-curricular session as the best Inset they had ever been on, but the children also had their evaluations to give: ‘This smoothie tickles my taste buds,’ said one of the pupils when interviewed by the team from ITV Meridian. ‘This spinach is good for giving you gas,’ said another to the reporter from the Eastbourne Gazette! Above all, the children had a fantastic time on the Cooking Bus and the team, of course, had a really enjoyable week teaching the Parkland children.

ORCHARD PRIMARY SCHOOL, MILTON KEYNES – FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Orchard Primary School in Milton Keynes is a proactive sort of place when it comes to food, diet and health. Cooking activities already take place regularly within the school, and it has a garden where crops are grown and which is carefully maintained by members of the gardening club. During the week of the Cooking Bus visit to Orchard Primary, the cooking programme was tailored to the schools’ current curriculum: based on Countries of the World, with each class making dishes from a different culture. Generally, the school appears to have a passion for integrating cooking skills within the curriculum, with the teaching staff enthusiastic to develop this and all of them who came onto the Bus commenting on how good it was to witness the enjoyment of the pupils in the cooking that they were doing. And, as if to spread the word further around the region, Anglia ITV came along to record all the good things the children were doing - which was aired on the local news that evening.

LEEDS METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

To provide a variety of cooking workshops as part of the 2008 Staff Development Festival, the Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus visited the Headingley campus of Leeds Metropolitan University – where participants came together from a wide range of departments and even travelled from other campuses to take part in the cooking sessions offered on board. The sessions were based around themes which included Healthy Cookery, International Cookery (India) and Entertaining. The participants were enthusiastic, the sessions ran smoothly and the Cooking Bus team received lots of positive feedback – with the delegates saying how much they enjoyed the opportunity to work and interact with colleagues from different disciplines and department and how delighted they were at their own – sometimes unexpected – culinary competence! The Leeds Metropolitan University staff are all keen for the Cooking Bus to return next year.

THORNTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL, BRADFORD – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus visited Thornton Grammar School in Bradford, amongst other reasons, to help support the school’s already-successful Food and Nutrition course offered at KS4, working, in particular, with Fish and Sauces and with high-quality, multicultural food products. The sessions linked with the work already being done in school on Healthy Eating. And it was good to see catering staff as well as Food and other teachers at the staff session – where the focus was, amongst others, to introduce some new pieces of equipment that could enhance the delivery of food teaching at the school. The staff session not only prompted discussions about improved training opportunities, but was voted an inspirational session which renewed staff enthusiasm and gave them new ideas to use in their teaching. As for the children, they became the ‘stars’ of the week in more ways than one: keen at all times to try new tastes, to develop new cooking skills, and even being filmed by a team from the Bradford Telegraph and Argus newspaper.

ST BEDE’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL, BRADFORD – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

St Bede’s is a Catholic grammar school in the Heaton area of Bradford, teaching boys only in Years 7 to 11, and girls from St Joseph’s School in the sixth form. Whilst the school has not taught any cooking or Food Technology for 15 years and has no specialist rooms or teachers, it is enthusiastic about good food, diet and health amongst all its pupils and, for the week of the Cooking Bus visit, was targeting in particular the students of Year 13 - with a view to establishing a permanent cooking programme as part of the school’s Enrichment Scheme. The aim of the ‘senior’ sessions was to offer basic tuition on nutrition, food safety and hygiene, budgeting and shopping which would prepare the students for going to university and college, when it is likely that they will be cooking for themselves - on a shoestring and perhaps at risk, at times of pressure, of making less healthy choices. The sessions were hugely successful, with the school voting the results as ‘beyond all expectations’!

PALMERSTON PRIMARY SCHOOL – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

‘Fantastic!’ said Palmerston Primary people of their week with the Welsh Assembly Government-supported Cooking Bus. Not only were expert cooking sessions on offer to the people of Palmerston Primary School in Barry, a large South Wales holiday town, but pupils from the nearby Sir Richard Gwyn RC School - who had offered use of their site for Cooking Bus should the Palmerston site have proved unsuitable - were thanked by Focus on Food for their gesture in the form of an advanced skills sessions offered to their GSCE Food and Nutrition pupils – with fish very successfully on their menu! The Palmerston sessions were positively supported by, amongst others, two members from the local W.I. who attended the Community session in order to get ‘primed up’ for the ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ classes they will be running. It was a lively week, with enthusiasm in large does from start to finish and highly ‘infectious’: it brought an ITV Wales team to help spread the word to the rest of the country (they filmed Year 3’s brilliant food work on board the Bus as part of a food programme they were making) and the Barry and District News also came along to take photos and conduct interviews for a double-page spread in their newspaper.

YSGOL GYMRAEG CWMBRAN AND HOLLYBUSH PRIMARY SCHOOL – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The host school for this visit, Hollybush Primary School, was an ideal alternative site for the Welsh Assembly Government-supported Cooking Bus, located as it is very close to Ysgol Gymraeg Cwmbran and keen as it was, for the second time, for a visit from a Cooking Bus. Ysgol Gymraeg pupils were bussed to the Hollybush site each day so that sessions could begin promptly and take best advantage of the food teaching on offer; and for pupils of Hollybush, two sessions were offered to pupils from Year 5 in which they made Lunchbox Wraps, Pasta Salad and a Fruit Smoothie. The sessions were successful for pupils from both schools and a happy week was had by all the budding cooks of Cwmbran!

YSGOL TALYSARN AND YSGOL NANTLLE – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Two tiny schools – in an idyllic rural setting half-way between Caenarfon and Porthmadog – were the happy recipients of Cooking Bus tuition on its visit to the area. With the Cooking Bus sited at the Community Centre car park in Talysarn, the children from both Ysgol Talysarn and Ysgol Nantlle all made the journey each day – Ysgol Talysarn children on foot - from the schools to the Bus. And not only were the children from both schools taught vital cooking skills, but both schools received a COOKIT each: much to their delight! Ysgol Talysarn is already a Healthy School: it runs a breakfast club and offers healthy fruit snacks at break time – and they have a small garden area. Ysgol Nantlle School has only two teachers and two classes: with eight pupils in KS1 and 15 pupils in KS2! With neither school insignificant merely because of its size, the two schools’ active week with the Cooking Bus drew the attention of the Daily Post (Herald) newspaper, as well as visits from the D&T advisor for Cynnal (Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conway LEAs) - who came to see what the children were up to in their aprons. The Cooking Bus team voted this twin-schools week as really wonderful, with the enthusiasm from all participants excellent from start to finish.

YSGOL LLEWELLYN, RHYL – WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Ysgol Llewellyn is situated on a large housing estate on the outskirts of Rhyl, with currently 600 pupils on its roll. A busy and active school, it was difficult to know where to start but it was decided that the Cooking Bus team would work with Year 5 pupils and focus especially on the Indian food culture: particularly relevant to Ysgol Llewellyn pupils, as the school has close links with a primary school in India. It was good to see that good food and diet are high on the menu already at Ysgol Llewellyn, with, for example, approximately 70 pupils daily attending the very well-run breakfast club. The Rhyl Gazette newspaper took the opportunity, too, to profile the Cooking Bus visit to Ysgol Llewellyn and, as the week went on, the Cooking Bus team was delighted to observe the overall growing enthusiasm for the cooking work that was happening on board. Not only did the children express their appreciation and thanks, but the headteacher made sure that the Cooking Bus team – each – received a thank-you card and a bottle of wine: a lovely touch!

CRONDALL PRIMARY SCHOOL – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Happily for all, the FFLP Cooking Bus – on its visit to Crondall Primary School - was sited at Newlyns Farm Shop, five miles from the school. Amongst other things, this meant that there was much surrounding support for the Cooking Bus’s food work for that week: specifically to support the Crondall school community in its efforts towards achieving the Food for Life Partnership Mark and to improve practical cooking skills using seasonal, local and organic produce. Crondall Primary already has lots of Cooking both on and off the curriculum: they have an established and well-run cooking club; the school grounds are currently being developed into a year-round, cross-curricular resource for school, community and fund-raising events; there is a pond, fields, woodland, a sensory garden and an adventure playground; the school is currently developing a community allotment; and, perhaps best of all, the school’s herb garden is well stocked and cared for. So naturally, the Crondall pupils attending sessions on board the Bus were already familiar with the terms ‘local’, ‘seasonal’ and ‘organic’. Most of the food for the week’s cooking sessions was sourced right on-site: from Newlyns Farm Shop who already have links with the school and stock an excellent range of local produce, including meat, poultry, dairy, fruit and vegetables. And being at such a high-food-profile spot, the Cooking Bus naturally created a great deal of local and public interest. Children made dishes such as Blue Cheese and Pear Salad and Apple, Mango and Local Cheese Salad under the admiring eyes of many a visitor to the shop – amongst whom were teams from Southern Counties Radio, the Fleet News and the Farnham Herald. As an extra-special treat for all, the now-famous ‘dinner lady’ Jeanette Orrey made a visit to the Cooking Bus to encourage the children in their endeavours. And what did the school itself have to say about it all? ‘Absolutely brilliant!’

SOIL ASSOCIATION ORGANIC FORTNIGHT, BRISTOL – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

During Soil Association Organic Fortnight, people across Britain celebrated all things organic. And to kick off this year's Organic Fortnight, the Soil Association was delighted to host the Soil Association Organic Food Festival and Awards – Europe’s largest celebration of all things organic - sponsored by Yeo Valley Organic, in Bristol.
First up, it was a warm welcome from the Festival organizers and the Soil Association representatives to the Food for Life Partnership-supported Cooking Bus and its team – with the Bus ideally sited in the Amphitheatre on Bordeaux Quay, making it both accessible and attractive to the public - and all was set fair for a fabulous week. From the perspective of Focus on Food, the Festival was a perfect opportunity for showcasing the work of the Food for Life Partnership, to recruit more schools onto the Mark and to engage young people in and around Bristol in cooking with seasonal, local and organic produce. The majority of the produce for the Cooking Bus sessions during the Festival was sourced from the Better Food Company in Bristol. Much of it was locally grown and some of it was organic, enabling the Cooking Bus teams and their pupils to achieve the 30 per cent organic produce target. Recipes chosen reflected the local, seasonal and organic theme threading through the Festival. Dishes made were Pasta Salad with Roasted Vegetables, Cheese and Spinach Triangles, Cheesy Seedy Stuffed Courgettes, Spanakopitta – and two very popular dishes testing and extending the learners’ bread-making skills: Friendship Pizza and Pissaladière. Senior Food Teacher on the FFLP/Focus on Food Cooking Bus Siobhan Haughey said: ‘The Bristol Organic Food Festival was a great success. … The children really enjoyed developing their cooking ability and we look forward to similar opportunities to engage people in the work of FFLP and the Focus on Food Campaign.’

THE VINE INTER-CHURCH PRIMARY SCHOOL – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

What a horticultural school The Vine - a new school located in the new community of Cambourne, near Cambridge – is, to be sure! The FFLP-supported Cooking Bus, visiting the school to encourage and support the school community to develop cooking activities in pursuit of the Food for Life Partnership Mark, had a delightful time at The Vine. Ingredients for the week’s cooking sessions were supplied both by the school garden (of which they are understandably proud) and also by Histon Produce who supply the school kitchen. Whilst they delivered fruits, vegetables and milk, Sarah, the catering manager, could be spotted early each day in the garden, picking produce to use for lunch! Recipes were chosen to introduce pupils to more unusual ingredients, flavours and combinations, such as Roast Vegetables with Cous Cous and Feta, and Kaleidoscope Cous Cous. Staff were happily ‘employed’ in their sessions making Blackberry and Apple Crumble and Potato and Beetroot Salad, all while exchanging valuable ideas and experiences in this ready-made ‘ideas forum’.

SACRED HEART RC PRIMARY SCHOOL, PETERBOROUGH – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

To put no finer point on it, the Cooking Bus team reported a simply superb week at Sacred Heart RC Primary in Peterborough – and many factors contributed to this. For a start, Sacred Heart has a really flourishing garden - where Nicola Ward, a parent who leads gardening activities, picked and delivered daily all of the herbs, some onions, salad leaves and a variety of other vegetables for use on board the Bus. The quality of the produce was excellent. Secondly, amongst the children of the school, there was very good knowledge about healthy eating: they had an excellent understanding of local, seasonal and organic food; some could explain the composting process very well; even younger children knew what herbs were; and the older children, reflecting their own experience in gardening activities, knew the names and properties of a wide range of herbs and leaves; and – really good news - by the end of the week, four parents had committed themselves to setting up the school’s new cooking club! Dishes made and enjoyed were Smoked Paprika Sausage Hotpot, Cheesy Vegetable Parcels, Muesli and Yoghurt Layer and an Indian-style fruit salad: Phul Chaat. And as if to follow the good news where it was happening, Peterborough Evening News photographed some Year 1 pupils at one of the sessions and published the following day a wonderful article on the week’s good food work and on the ongoing work of Focus on Food .

HAWORTH PRIMARY SCHOOL – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Haworth Primary School is situated in the historic West Yorkshire village on the outskirts of Keighley - where the FFLP Cooking Bus team was warmly welcomed and immediately made to feel part of the school community. The visit coincided with the start of Haworth School Organic Food Fortnight and consequently there was a whole-school focus on cooking activities, amongst which were the provision by the school itself of delicious home-grown produce, including organic cheeses and honey from a local supplier. Haworth Primary seems to be really on its way already: having already gained the Bronze FFLP Mark, the school is aiming for Silver this year and Gold in 2009; it has achieved National winners in the Duchy Originals Garden Organic for Schools ‘How Does Your Garden Grow’ competition 2006; the school was ‘Yorkshire in Bloom’-winners of the Schools section (Gold Standard) 2007; and Steve Thorpe (the school’s gardening club co-ordinator) won the Soil Association’s School Food Awards ‘Organix School Food Hero’ Award for 2006. A range of food activities have already taken place at the school, including a fish-tasting session at lunchtime to encourage more children to eat fish, a Fairtrade fruit stall at the summer fayre and two teacher-led assemblies about growing and environmental issues. So it was only to ‘assist’ the already richly food-experienced children of Haworth that the Cooking Bus team set about showing them how to make Wensleydale Stuffed Courgettes, Potato and Beetroot Salad, Ratatouille Niçoise and Plum Puffs. The children, notwithstanding their advanced experience, were nonetheless enchanted, the week ending with the comment ‘I want to stay on the Bus for ever’ heard not just from one Haworth pupil but from many!

ST MACHAR ACADEMY, ABERDEEN – SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

St Machar Academy near Aberdeen already places food and health high on the school’s agenda, with Hospitality offered to Standard grade and higher. The new Scottish Cooking Bus was visiting St Machar to support, amongst other things, the ‘School of Ambition’ campaign within the school, and to offer hands-on cooking workshops that supported aspects of the Scottish curriculum. Pupils had some good knowledge of ingredients and were positive about trying new foods – and teaching staff from the school were keen to encourage the children in all the healthy eating messages that they were hearing on the Bus. Teachers, of course, had their own cooking sessions – where they had the much-appreciated opportunity to network with colleagues from other schools: 11 teachers from neighbouring secondary schools attended the training session for teachers. During the week, the Cooking Bus held an additional training session for six members of the FSA Scotland (and three children). Everyone appeared to enjoy their workshop and openly praised the Cooking Bus and the work being done through it; Charlotte Maltin from the FSAS declared herself to be ‘addicted to it’ (she had visited the Cooking Bus previously during the Royal Highland Show and couldn’t stay away!) and stated that she sings its praises to everyone she meets!

TANSHALL PRIMARY SCHOOL – SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

‘A buzz about the school’ was the feeling expressed by the headteacher of Tanshall Primary School in Glenrothes as each day of the Scottish Cooking Bus visit unfolded. And still in its spanking-new livery and something still of a novelty among the schools of Scotland, the Bus and its team made a really deep impression. Their visit to Tanshall Primary was specifically designed to support the whole-school approach to healthy eating across the curriculum. Recipes were chosen to include a multicultural aspect to food linking to Geography: Social Cultures and Foods from Other Lands. And whilst the pupils cooked on, they were observed by a good number of visitors from local health and education authorities eager to view the Cooking Bus and witness the work of the team (they were all suitably impressed and stated that they would ‘spread the word’ of the Focus on Food Campaign and of the availability of the new Scottish Cooking Bus); and the local press sent out a crew to take photographs of the children cooking. And it was not only the adults who were patting the Cooking Bus team on the back: the pupils too were most appreciative of all the food, health and diet learning they had received over the week and were very demonstrative in their gratitude – even to hugs and kisses from some! One class made a large poster of the Cooking Bus, and several thank-you letters were gratefully received by the Cooking Bus team.

THE LEARNING FESTIVAL AT THE SECC – SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS COOKING BUS

Not flagging in its new energies for a moment, the new Scottish Cooking Bus smartly set off again to the Learning Festival held at the SECC in Glasgow. Voted by all concerned as a huge success, this event attracted great interest and audiences to the Bus (in fact, ‘inundated’ was the word heard from the Advisory Teacher Helen Orr): visitors from the length and breadth of Scotland who would take their new knowledge of this fabulous new food facility back to their own towns and regions. And this interest also led – naturally - to a host of Scottish schools registering with the Focus on Food Campaign and making requests for a visit from the Cooking Bus. Amongst other activities, children from schools across Scotland prepared delicious recipes and tried out new foods. Overall, the responses of the children to their new food and cooking experiences were most positive and heart-warming. One of the many visitors to the Cooking Bus over the days of the Festival was Maureen Watt, Minister for Schools and Skills – who watched a demonstration and assisted children during a session. Adam Ingram, Minister for Children, also came along talked at length with Ann Kerry, expressing how very impressed he was with the work of the Focus on Food Campaign. Heather Reid, a weather forecaster and television presenter, also took time out from her work at the BBC to visit; she was clearly captivated by the quality of food and cooking skills being offered by the Cooking Bus and promised to ‘spread the word’!

> OCTOBER 2008

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST SCHOOL, FINDON, SUSSEX – FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

‘The Cooking Bus was the talk of the village!’ That was the view expressed by many after the FSA-supported Cooking Bus visit to St John the Baptist School in Findon, West Sussex. And small though it may be, St Johns is a Hub school in the Open Futures project, and this means that the entire school community talks the cooking-and-good-food language most fluently! Food is truly embedded within the school curriculum, and there is a real sense of community spirit in the air! The Bus was sited at the local fire station, whose personnel seem to have ‘adopted’ St Johns in a number of ways: the fire operatives welcomed the Cooking Bus team, attended one of the community sessions on board the Bus and generally worked in close partnership with the school and Cooking Bus team. The school garden where crops are grown is not only well kept, but this year it produced its very own pumpkins, the largest of which weighed 4 stones, the smallest of which was ‘awarded’ to the Cooking Bus team for display. And the press could not be kept away: two radio stations plus The Worthing Telegraph sent reporters to share in the fabulous food work going on that week.

THORNEYCROFT RC PRIMARY, NR. CLITHEROE, LANCS - FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Thorneycroft RC Primary School is situated in the remote and rural village of Dunsop Bridge in north Lancashire – and with only 42 pupils on its roll, it seemed fitting that its Cooking Bus visit should be tailored to neighbouring schools as well. Amongst the activities of the week were numerous cross-curricular links: such as the preparation of Italian dishes to link with KS2 History (‘A Roman Case-Study’) and other learning focused on the food eaten by, and the eating customs of, ancient Romans; the Irish dish Colcannon was made and linked to the celebration of Hallowe’en (part of Festivals and Celebrations, a focus in Religious Education). Coincidental links occurred when demonstrating bread with Year 5 and 6 pupils - who had recently done an experiment in a Science lesson on how chemical-raising agents worked using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. Not only were the parents most appreciative of the visit of the Cooking Bus to this sometimes forgotten corner of the north, but the children also thoroughly enjoyed the experience and ended the week much more confident cooks!

KNOTTINGLEY HIGH SCHOOL, WEST YORKSHIRE – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

It was a refreshing new departure for the Cooking Bus team to be teaching chiefly senior students on the visit of the Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus to Knottingley High School, near Wakefield. This mixed comprehensive school offers Food Technology at GCSE level and, at KS3, the students take Food Technology lessons as part of the Design and Technology carousel. The main focus of the food work for this week was on curriculum connections, in particular the links that could be made with Science. Connections were also made between diet and performance in sport as well as links to Science. And the visit was popular with other community sectors as well, with a photographer from The Wakefield Express visiting the Bus on Wednesday, as well as a representative from the Open College Network dropping by to watch the young people creating their culinary masterpieces - as well as to find out more about the Focus on Food Campaign.

HULL COLLEGIATE SCHOOL, ANLABY, HULL – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Hull Collegiate School is an independent school formed in 2005 by a merger between Hull Grammar School and Hull High School. Its pupils range in age from 3 to 18 years of age, and Food is taught at KS3, KS4 and KS5; A-Level Food Technology is also offered.
One of the chief focuses for the visit of the Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus to the school at Anlaby was on recipes for sixth-form students destined soon to leave home for university or college – who were appreciative of the timely tuition in planning meals for friends, in how to cook healthy food on a budget, in the nifty use of store-cupboard ingredients and in the importance of food hygiene. The students themselves – as well as the rest of the school and the Cooking Bus team – voted the week a very successful and enjoyable visit. And not forgetting the littlies, the staff training session was also very useful to the school in providing ideas and inspiration for the prep. school teachers and nursery nurses to implement more cooking at KS1 and KS2. The school is mad-keen for the Cooking Bus to return!

CARDINAL WISEMAN HIGH SCHOOL, GREENFORD, MIDDLESEX – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The Cardinal Wiseman School is a Catholic Technology and Art College in West London. With 1,800 pupils on roll, they proudly serve 1,200 school meals (compared with 400 before joining FFLP) and they are to be congratulated on their whole new food culture. The school has recently opened its new catering area which features the ‘Wise Choice’ café, officially opened in September by Prue Leith OBE, Chair of the School Food Trust. On tasting a range of dishes that will form part of the new school menu, Prue said: ‘Cardinal Wiseman is an excellent example of how a school meals service should be run.’ Jeanette Orrey, dinner-lady par excellence and cum laude, and representing the FFLP, also joined in the inaugural occasion. In addition to a fine school menu, an outstanding gardening club is conducted by Dave Parks, the husband of the Head of Hospitality and Catering, and Food teaching goes all the way up to A-level. Two groups of Year 13 students this week made dishes which they will be able to run up from scratch when they are university or college: Roasted Vegetables with Cous Cous and Feta, Smoked Paprika Sausage Hot-pot, and Muesli and Yoghurt Layer. Year 11 Hospitality students made Pissaladière and Orange and Red Onion Salad. Year 10 Travel and Tourism students, linking their cooking learning to the Hospitality and Catering industry, made dishes that would be suitable to sell at a theme park: Courgette and Sun-dried Tomato Muffins, and Tropical Fruit Salad with Lemongrass. Mutual respect, manners and motivation shone out from all at Cardinal Wiseman over the week, making the whole experience a pleasure from start to finish for the Cooking Bus team.

ST JAMES’ PRIMARY SCHOOL, ELSTEAD, SURREY – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Not only did the Cooking Bus team vote their visit to St James’ Primary School in Elstead, Surrey a successful week, but the school itself declared the week as ‘wonderful opportunity ... [and] a revelation to staff’! The Cooking Bus team was most warmly welcomed and even invited to a ‘getting-to-know-you’ assembly – where the children were clearly on the cooking ball! When asked, they knew exactly what the visit would aim to achieve and they recognized that it was a very special occasion for their school – and they generally had a very good knowledge about healthy eating. They have a flourishing school garden; a cooking club is well established and very popular; and the school cook is proactive in getting the children to improve their eating habits. Various food-themed events are regularly organized, and this time it was a local chef who came to the school to make Paella. (True to St James’ form, this chef has a very good relationship with the school and regularly visits to support such events.) A wide range of potential chefs were taught this week: the pupils themselves, the Brownies and Beavers members and leaders, teaching and dining staff, parents, SNAG members and local senior citizens - and the visit undoubtedly did much to enhance recognition of cooking activities amongst other staff and the community. Key staff at St James’ are to be commended for their hard work towards the FFLP Mark.

PUDSEY PRIMROSE HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL, PUDSEY, NR. LEEDS – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Fairly unusually, the site host for the FFLP-supported Cooking Bus visit to the children and adults of Pudsey Primrose Hill Primary School was a supermarket! It was ASDA at the Owlcoates Shopping Centre, approximately a ten-minute walk from the school. But, of course, what a popular - not to say, populated - place to showcase the cooking-from-scratch work, using fresh and sometimes organic produce, of the youngsters of Pudsey. With the public able to view the work on the Bus from the outside screen, what an incentive they had to run in to the store and pick only the best and run home and try out for themselves the simple but delicious dishes that the children were making! A fine set of community cooking lessons all round! The children were very enthusiastic cooks and learners and, by the end of the week, their new school dining room, their very productive school garden and the prospect of a new school cooking club all seemed doubly attractive – they were rearing to go! Not that they wanted to say goodbye to the Cooking Bus: ‘It is the best day of my life so far,’ said one pupil of his experience on board. That’s the Pudsey spirit!

YSGOL TUDNO, LLANDUDNO – WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Timed to coincide with the Conwy Food Festival, this visit of the Welsh Assembly Government-supported Cooking Bus to Ysgol Tudno in Llandudno was a thoroughly enjoyable week. The school is situated in the middle of Llandudno, a small seaside town on the North Wales coast. The children all live locally, and the school has a traditional mix of backgrounds. On the menu for the week were Dinca ‘Fala, Summer Coca and Smoked Haddock and Leek Parcels. Whilst involvement in the Conwy Food Festival turned out to be rather minimal, the enthusiasm and responsiveness from all quarters of the school community were excellent from start to finish. The school has an after-school cooking club for the older children and they are going to start a garden in the spring – all great initiatives to get good food and healthy eating high on the agenda of the Ysgol Tudno children. And while no other reward was necessary, it was a pleasure for the Cooking Bus team to receive the effusive thanks of the headteacher – and the bottles of wine and three cheers from the children!

YSGOL IFOR BACH, ABERTRIDWR, CAERPHILLY - WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Ysgol Ifor Bach, situated between the villages of Abertridwr and Senghennydd on the outskirts of Caerphilly, is a brand-new school, opened as recently as September 2007.
As this is a Welsh Medium school, all of the resources for the week were bilingual – with sessions delivered in both languages, almost fluently! In addition to being part of the Healthy Schools Network, Ysgol Ifor Bach is also an eco-school: impressively, they use their own wood-burner to heat the school, as well as having a system for recycling rain-water for the toilets. Pupils between Years 2 and 6 focused on preparing items suitable for a healthy lunch-box: Sunset Pasta Salad, Fresh Fruit Salad, Fruit Kebabs, Twice Baked Jackets, Calzone and Herby Cheese Scones. And the press were so tantalized when they heard of the culinary feats being attempted and achieved that they came along too – and The Rhyl Gazette featured photos of Ysgol Ifor Bach chefs in the pages of their paper. Heart-warmingly, as the week went on, the enthusiasm for the Bus increased visibly around the school, and both teachers and pupils were sad to see it leave, but declared themselves positively resolved to carry on its good work – for good!

YSGOL BRO EIRWG, LLANRUMNEY – WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Ysgol Bro Eirwg is a Welsh Medium school, situated in the middle of Rumney, a district in north-east Cardiff. From start to finish, the whole school community were solidly behind this visit of the Welsh Assembly Government-supported Cooking Bus and determined to make the most of the opportunities it offered for future and ongoing good health and cooking skills. The focus of most of the sessions for this week was lunch-box items, and preparing healthy meals using store-cupboard ingredients. Pupils made Fresh Fruit Salad, Pasta Salad, Kaleidoscope Cous Cous Salad, Fruit Kebabs, Sharing Salad and Fruit Muffins. In a real gesture of support, the headteacher came to every session and was discreetly on hand to sample all of the delicious demonstration items! Amongst the community visitors were two representatives from the W.I. who will be running the new ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ classes in the school. Overall, the Cooking Bus team voted this week a treat: a real pleasure to work in such a responsive atmosphere. And as if to reflect the interest of the community in the work of the Focus on Food Campaign, The Western Mail and Echo sent a reporter who later featured photos of the cooking children in an edition of the paper.

LHANBRYDE PRIMARY SCHOOL, LHANBRYDE, MORAY - SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

‘Brilliant … amazing … [and] super!’ The visit of the new Scottish Government/FSAS-supported Cooking Bus visit to Lhanbryde was a popular week, not only with the Moray school itself, but also with local and national personalities, keen to follow the career of the new Cooking Bus with interest! Local cookery writer, Liz Bowie, for example, attended an Inset and was very impressed by the Cooking Bus, and she even returned for a second day, interviewing pupils for an article she would be writing on the visit. In addition, many visitors from local health and education authorities were eager to view the Cooking Bus. They were all suitably impressed and stated that they would ‘spread the word’ of the Focus on Food Campaign far and wide! At Lhanbryde Primary School, a good food culture is already firmly in place: the children are positive about trying new foods and teaching staff from the school are keen to encourage them; many of the children are already knowledgeable about Healthy Eating messages. Recipes were chosen to include a multicultural aspect to food linking to Geography, Social Cultures, and Foods from Other Lands. All children and staff took the time to thank the staff on the Cooking Bus and all left eager to taste the dishes they had made – and to make them again and again at home! The principal teacher even went as far as a round of hugs, saying as she did so: ‘We simply can’t praise the whole concept enough.’

> NOVEMBER 2008

CHINEHAM PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL, BASINGSTOKE - FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Chineham Park Primary School is well on its way to integrating more cooking within its curriculum. Within the school grounds, they grow vegetables - including potatoes used in school meals - in attractive raised beds. For the week of their visit from the FSA-supported Cooking Bus, a special emphasis was laid on food associated with Religious Festivals. All year groups (from Reception to Year 6) got involved in food-related activities, which included filming a session on the Bus's AV system. And they have a good food record behind them too at Chineham Park: recently, they successfully took part in the 'Food for the Brain' project created by a group of nutritionists, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, teachers and scientists to promote the link between nutrition and mental health. And as an outcome of the Cooking Bus visit, the Basingstoke Gazette and the Basingstoke Observer later featured the story and photographs in their newspapers, giving a real boost to the clever foodies of Chineham Park Primary.

ST JOHN'S RC SCHOOL, BISHOP AUCKLAND - FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Students from Years 7, 8 and 9 at St John's Roman Catholic School, Bishop Auckland attended cookery sessions when the FSA-supported Cooking Bus visited their town close to the high country of County Durham. The main aim of the sessions was to show the students the benefits of making food from scratch rather than relying on convenience foods, and also to make some multicultural and seasonal dishes - and so they donned aprons and set to, preparing Spicy Beef Burgers, Thai Fish Curry and Chicken Ruby. Amongst other follow-up activities, the students heated some ready meals in the microwave and did taste-tests: pitting their own creations against the 'convenience' items. The majority of students preferred the home-made version and were very proud of what they made themselves. Many truly seemed to reflect on the benefits of eating fresh ingredients and not eating as many take-away or ready meals, even asking for the recipes for the delicious dishes that they had created. This week really was extremely encouraging, showing how thoughtfully young people can reflect on their food choices and how easily they can be empowered to put good ingredients together to make delicious meals.

PRIORY SCHOOL AND SPORTS COLLEGE, BARNSLEY - YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Students in Years 7, 8, 9 and 11 of the Priory School and Sports College, Barnsley attended cooking sessions on the Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus. To make the sessions doubly relevant to the youngsters, connections were made between diet and sport, particularly in the session with the Year 11 BTEC Sport group - where the students were keen to try new foods and seemed inspired to change their food lives for the better. And in true cross-curricular and cross-community spirit, the staff sessions were well stocked with teachers from the Food, Geography and RE departments of the school, as well as two dieticians from Barnsley Hospital and teaching staff from the local primary school. There was good coverage of the week from the local press and radio stations, as well as from Caroline Fanshawe from the School Food Trust who visited the Bus and observed a session that included children, parents and grandparents who were involved in the 'Fit 4 Life' group. The Priory School is really showing the way in making good food the focus for everyone in their community!

MAESYRHANDIR COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL, NEWTOWN - WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Spreading the goodness about! That's just what happened during the week that the WAG-supported Cooking Bus visited Maesyrhandir School in Newton. Not only was the headteacher very keen to involve pupils from the SEN school (Ysgol Cedewain) which is based on the same site, but the Cooking Bus team also offered a community session to Newtown High School as a thank-you for allowing the Bus to park on their school grounds during the week. This latter session was fabulously successful: it was attended by the Year 11 Child Development group, who prepared Chicken Ruby, Sunset Pasta Salad, Lunchbox Wraps and Berry and Lime Refresher, and who talked intelligently about healthy eating and lunchboxes. A representative from the Newton W.I. also attended this session and declared herself hugely impressed at the end at how much she had both learnt and enjoyed herself. It was a credit to Maesyrhandir Community Primary that so much food education was able to be offered to so many - and all within the week of the Cooking Bus visit.

ABERCERDIN PRIMARY SCHOOL, BRIDGEND - WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Abercerdin Primary School is situated at the top end of Bridgend county, adjacent to the Rhondda Valley. During the week of the WAG-supported Cooking Bus visit, the team not only worked with pupils from Year 1 to Year 6, but conducted a very successful staff Inset whose participants, we are told, were 'buzzing' for days afterwards about the success of the session. In addition, a very happy session was held with the parents from the school - the focuses of which were lunchbox items and how to prepare healthy meals using store-cupboard ingredients. So the Cooking Bus team reported a very promising week where the enthusiasm for enhanced food education is high on the school's agenda and where support for the Cooking Bus stemmed all the way through the school: from the headteacher to the staff, the parents and, of course, the children.
This was a most rewarding week for all.

YSGOL BODHYFRYD, WREXHAM - WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Ysgol Bodhyfryd is situated on the outskirts of Wrexham, about a mile from the town centre. Over the week that the WAG-supported Cooking Bus team worked with the school, cooking sessions were offered to pupils from Years 3 to 6 - all the pupils in Key Stage 2 - and to a good complement of teaching staff from the school. And in a bid to spread the 'cooking for all' message far and wide, the Cooking Bus team also offered an extra Inset session for primary school teachers across the county whose schools would not be getting a visit from the Bus - and this was well attended. The team received support and enthusiasm from the school at all times, and all were very sorry to see the Bus leave. It is planned that it will return for a week of sessions with the Infants at a later date. And if the word in the Wrexham Evening Standard is anything to go by, the whole community will warmly welcome its return!

THORNWELL PRIMARY SCHOOL, CHEPSTOW, MONMOUTHSHIRE - WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The WAG-supported Cooking Bus team were impressed by life at Thornwell Primary School in Chepstow where food is well up on their agenda: they are a Healthy School, they run a breakfast club and they offer healthy fruit snacks at break time. They hope to make a start on developing a small garden area this coming year. And all sectors of the school community supported the sessions on the Cooking Bus, with both the staff and the community sessions very well attended. The focus of the sessions was lunchbox items and how to prepare healthy meals using store-cupboard ingredients. And given that many of the adults admitted to being 'nervous cooks', it was great to see them gain in confidence as the sessions progressed. The Cooking Bus team reported a heartening enthusiasm from the school from start to finish, with the headteacher, at the end of the week, most effusive in her thanks for the food-related ideas and activities that had been on offer to all.

LYNDHURST PRIMARY SCHOOL, PORTSMOUTH - FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

This was a special week for the Year 4 pupils of Lyndhurst Primary School, Portsmouth, who had a particular reason for appreciating the visit of the FFLP-supported Cooking Bus: they wanted some support for their curriculum project on India - and the Cooking Bus team was happy to oblige, with all the recipes for the week reflecting this theme. The highly motivated pupils progressed efficiently through sessions to produce good-quality and really attractive dishes: they made Mint and Tomato Katchumbar, Vegetable Samosas, Saag Aloo Tikki and Luscious Lime Lassi. And despite some limited cooking facilities, every class at Lyndhurst Primary has cooking high on their list of priorities: each class has picked a Food for Life Partnership representative, and these have been divided into two groups: the Cookery Crew and the Gardening Gang, which meet each half-term and also attend appropriate SNAG meetings. A dedicated team of staff and parent helpers, led by the headteacher and the senior management team, should help to guarantee sustainable cooking activities at the school and to make steady progress towards the FFLP Mark. Fine food work, Lyndhurst Primary!

ST. EDWARD'S PRIMARY SCHOOL, ROMFORD - FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The FFLP-supported Cooking Bus team was made to feel very welcome to St. Edward's Primary School in Romford - where both the headteacher and deputy headteacher are dedicated to the FFLP and have a clear vision of getting cooking back onto the curriculum - so much so that, by the end of the week, plans were already in place to refurbish their cooking area, with cooking activities planned for the near future. The programme for the week reflected the school's request for the Cooking Bus team to support them with planning an International Food Week and to train staff and community members to lead or support cooking activities. Pupils' food and dietary knowledge was impressive: they knew such facts as 'vitamin C helps you to get better', and recognized such 'obscure' ingredients as fresh ginger, anchovies and various spices. And in the cooking activities, they produced masterly results, Year 3 pupils making Vegetable Spring Rolls and Year 6 pupils making Pissaladière. In addition to the pupils' enthusiasm, training sessions were well attended by teachers, teaching assistants, caterers, parents, governors and the chaplain, and, going on the potential of the already excellent parental support, the idea of a school cooking team to co-ordinate activities was both proposed and welcomed. The Cooking Bus team reported that the commitment of St. Edward's to food education generally, as well as their realistic aspiration to achieve the FFLP Mark, is really impressive.

SURREY SQUARE INFANTS AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS, SOUTHWARK - FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The visit to Surrey Square Infants and Primary Schools in Southwark was hugely enjoyable and successful for the FFLP-supported Cooking Bus team, who found the young cookery learners to be motivated, positive and, in general, a credit to themselves, to their teachers and their parents. And for such young children, their bread-making skills were nothing short of amazing! The staff Insets were both extremely well attended by the supportive staff who made Focaccia and Tomato and Basil Salad - and who also surprised themselves with their excellent bread-making skills! The parent session was also an absolute delight, with no fewer three generations of menfolk from the one family represented in one of the sessions! Another grandfather of one of the children has given his time to transforming an overgrown area into the school garden, where fruit and vegetables - such as spinach - are grown and used in the school meals. And as if to endorse Surrey Square's fine food-related initiatives, the press came in healthy batches to film and photograph the happy chefs of Southwark!

ST. WILFRID'S CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL, WAKEFIELD - FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

St. Wilfrid's Catholic High School and Sixth Form College on the outskirts of Wakefield is a voluntary aided 11 - 18 mixed comprehensive school under the banner of the Diocese of Leeds. The school has been proactive in trying to improve its food culture for a number of years prior to becoming a Flagship School. Currently, they have achieved 12 strands for Bronze, nine for Silver and two for Gold. It was intended that their recent visit from the Cooking Bus would give added impetus to their quest to achieve the Gold Mark. The high-powered sessions were targeted on such focuses as High-energy Food for Sport, A-level Advanced Skills, Cooking on a Budget for University and, more unusually but nonetheless much welcomed, Awareness of Fish - to raise the profile of fish as a healthy 'brain' food. 'The Organic Pantry' supplied excellent-quality produce during the week and the school's fishmonger, G. Wraggs, supplied the fish which, again, was of superb quality and freshness. A selection of turbot, gurnard, mullet, and herring were ordered to provide an impressive fish display. In addition to the thriving food work from the students, all training sessions were well attended by teaching staff, kitchen and site personnel, and community members from the Allotment Group. The Cooking Bus week at St. Wilfrid's was both successful and immensely enjoyable, it seemed, for simply all involved.

WEST CALDER HIGH SCHOOL, EAST LOTHIAN - SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

A happy week was had at the West Calder High School in East Lothian when the new Scottish Government-FSAS-supported Cooking Bus visited the school. The well-prepared and well-motivated pupils, many of whom study Home Economics at their school, had a good prior knowledge of ingredients and healthy eating messages and were positive about trying new foods. All pupils appeared enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy their workshops, seemingly focused and unfazed even in the presence of a television camera! Celebrity chef Nick Nairn had dropped by, you see, and the film crew made sure that the whole nation was able to see him endorsing, as he always does, both cooking in Scottish schools and the work of the Focus on Food Campaign. Nick, along with Focus on Food Director Anita Cormac, was filmed demonstrating for both children and teachers during their respective sessions. And, to add to the excitement of the week, BBC 'Lanward' producer Folko Boermans televised the Cooking Bus on another day. The message from both of the personalities? 'More Cooking Buses for Scotland, please!' But it was on the school level that the Cooking Bus visit to West Calder was most treasured, and the headteacher expressed the feelings of all when she said that the week had been a wonderful experience for the school community and that the Bus would leave behind a lasting and valuable legacy.

CARNBROE PRIMARY SCHOOL, COATBRIDGE, NORTH LANARKSHIRE - SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

All the pupils from Carnbroe Primary School in Coatbridge who came aboard the Cooking Bus were full of beans: eager, enthusiastic and positive! The Cooking Bus team voted them a pleasure to teach! In addition, during the Inset, teachers were friendly and enthusiastic, and fully participated in both practical activities and discussion. These were the levels of engagement that are so heartening to observe when it comes to the vital matter of food and diet education through hands-on cooking. Recipes for both children and adults were chosen to cross the curriculum: for example, multicultural dishes linking Geography, Social Cultures and Foods from Other Lands. A photographer from the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser snapped the children at work during one session. Overall, all members of the Carnbroe school community were not only very impressed by the Cooking Bus but, vitally, very supportive of the work of the Focus on Food Campaign. The headteacher said that had been a wonderful experience for the school - one that they would never forget. And, very graciously, the staff invited the Cooking Bus team to thank them formally and to present them with a gift as a token of their appreciation.

ST ANNE'S PRIMARY SCHOOL, GLASGOW - SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The visit of the Scottish Government-FSAS-supported Cooking Bus to St Anne's Primary School, Glasgow testified once again to the wide tranches of visitors that the new Bus is attracting every time it rolls into a school yard for its week of expert cooking training. This time, it was the Area Education Manager for East Glasgow, amongst others, who was particularly interested the Bus and very keen to ensure more visits to surrounding schools; in addition, two members of the local press visited and took photographs of a session, as a result of which an article was to be destined for the pages of the 'Times Educational Supplement'. And it was a very rewarding week for all concerned at St Anne's too: the pupils were enthusiastic and positive, showing a good knowledge of ingredients and healthy eating messages and eager to try new foods. And a most welcome outcome of the visit was that one teacher in particular stated that she would start a cooking activity on a regular basis within the school. All at St Anne's were very demonstrative in their gratitude for the visit of the Cooking Bus: they invited the Cooking Bus team to a special assembly where they sang 'Food Glorious Food' and presented them with flowers and gifts - and where the headteacher said, on behalf of all, how much they had enjoyed their week and how would love another visit from the Cooking Bus as soon a possible.

> DECEMBER 2008

PENSBY HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS, CHESHIRE - FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Pensby High School educates boys aged from 11 to 18, with joint sixth-form learning taking place with the adjacent girls' school. The school has two newly refurbished, well-equipped Food Technology rooms which are put to good use in many cross-curricular and food-related activities. A topic on Greek food had been studied the week before the arrival of the Cooking Bus and, as a result, the pupils were well up on Greek ingredients, such as olives and Feta cheese. In fact, the pupils' knowledge was generally impressive. Sessions for students in Years 11, 12 and 13 were particularly interesting, with a focus on the benefits of making food from scratch rather than relying on convenience foods and, importantly for this age-group, the impacts of eating fresh foods on body image, general appearance and sports performance. To help them with developing the skills (both culinary and budgetary) which they might need when first living away from home at university or college, convenience ready meals were compared (in cost, quality and taste) with home-made alternatives - and students expressed some surprise at the outcomes when they made their own curry and preferred it to a bought version! Generally, the Cooking Bus visit elicited very positive feedback from all involved, and it was clear that, at Pensby High School, Food in its broadest sense will become more and more embedded within the curriculum in the future.

WALLASEY SCHOOL LIVERPOOL - FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Wallasey School on the Wirral is a 'Full Service Extended School', located on the Leasowe estate: it both provides education for students and is at the centre of many initiatives for the communities it serves. Proudly, the school has recently won the Kellogg's Regional Breakfast Club award in the over-11 category and it will now go through to the National Finals later in the year. The main aims of the Cooking Bus teaching sessions at Year 7 level were to show the pupils the benefits of making food from scratch rather than relying on convenience foods; to emphasize the 'five-a-day' message; and also to highlight the impacts of eating fresh, healthy foods on physical appearance and sporting performance - and, to these ends, Spicy Beef Burgers, Go Greek Pittas and Cannelloni (the dishes chosen for the pupils to make) went down a storm! In general, pupils' knowledge was impressive for Year 7: they recognized many ingredients and some knew about the nutritional and functional roles of ingredients in the dishes. And to support the work of the budding chefs of Wallasey, a film crew from Wirral TV visited the Cooking Bus and filmed the whole of one session. With enthusiasm from all quarters of the school at a high throughout the week, and with pupils reportedly feeling newly 'empowered', the Cooking Bus team went away feeling rewarded by all the food progress that had been made at Wallasey.

McAULEY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL, DONCASTER - YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

McAuley Catholic High School offers a BTEC option in Hospitality and Catering that twenty Year 9 students are able to take, and overall enthusiasm for food-related work is palpably high in this school. The students were very positive and enthusiastic about coming on the Cooking Bus and most were also keen to try all the new ingredients required in the recipes for the week, amongst which were Leek, Smoked Cheese and Pear Parcels, Blue Cheese and Pear Salad, Pear and Parmesan Crisp Salad and Kaleidoscope Couscous. And given the festive time of the year for this Cooking Bus visit, 'seasonal' dishes were also made, including Streusal Mince Pies, Christopsomo. The Cooking Bus team were very appreciative of the welcome and enthusiasm from students and staff at McAuley, and a return visit is already on the school's drawing-board.

MIDDLETON PRIMARY SCHOOL, LEEDS - FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The Yorkshire Forward-supported Cooking Bus team received a warm welcome on arrival at Middleton Primary School, south of Leeds, and were made to feel part of the school community throughout the week. The school has worked hard on, amongst other things, improving their physical environment, specifically on developing a garden where plants and crops are cultivated. For this week, ingredients were not able to be harvested on-site but some were sourced instead from Swillington Organic Farm. A serious school where food education is concerned, Middleton Primary makes regular visits to Meanwood Valley Urban Farm and to Skelton Grange Environmental Centre which promotes food, farming and sustainability. They have a vision for involving community groups and developing community cooking clubs on their own premises. As a result of all their food-related activities, the Middleton pupils generally have an excellent appreciation of local, seasonal and organic food. Years 1 and 2 pupils made Smoked Cheese and Pear Triangles and Potato and Beetroot Salad; Years 3 and 4 pupils made Twice-Baked Cheesy Jackets and Chickpea Salad; Year 6 pupils made Parsnip and Apple Soup and Croustades with Croutons - and the whole culinary experience was quickly entered on the Middleton Primary School blog! The Cooking Bus team could only leave most gratified by the experience of teaching cooking skills to such ready learners all round!

ST PAUL'S CATHOLIC COLLEGE, SUNBURY - FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Fine organization and a warm welcome were the order of the day when the FFLP-supported Cooking Bus visited St Paul's Catholic College in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey. All augured well when it was clear to the team that even the siting of the Cooking Bus was going to be conducive to a good week: it was visible to visitors to the school and the all-weather surface was used by the public in the evenings. As well as successful pupils sessions, a well-attended parent and child(ren) session saw Parsnip and Apple Soup on the menu and both generations worked together to prepare it. Teachers, in their session, successfully made Smoked Haddock Bridies and Tomato and Basil Salad. Not to be outdone, the Sunbury Cub Scouts made Spinach and Cheese Triangles and Tropical Fruit with Lemongrass - all as part of their work towards their Cooking Badge. Cooking across the community had certainly been achieved by the end of the week and there was even a tear or two shed as the Cooking Bus pulled out of the school after a very rewarding week.

GORSEINON INFANTS SCHOOL - WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Gorseinon Infants School is situated right in the middle of Gorseinon, a suburb of Swansea. It was a real community week at this school, with representation on the Cooking Bus from many sectors: including the W.I. (as part of their 'Let's Get Cooking' initiative), parents, the school cook, tutors from the local college and Healthy Schools co-ordinators for the county. And such was the general enthusiasm for the Cooking Bus that everyone at Gorseinon Infants 'mucked in', with even the headteacher found at the sink helping to wash up! One mum was so keen not to miss the community session that she came along with her one-day-old fourth child! All excellent fodder - not just for the budding chefs of Gorseinon - but also for the press who came along in healthy batches: from the Swansea Evening Post to Wave FM Radio! This was a most rewarding week, with the cards and poinsettias given to the Cooking Bus staff at the end simply the icing on the cake!

MILTON JUNIOR SCHOOL, NEWPORT - WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS
At Milton Junior School in Newport, cooking, food and cultivation have already been firmly launched as part of daily school life. There is some cooking on the curriculum; they have a large garden and a gardening club; they use the 'cream' of their harvests in their very own school meals; and a cookery club is already in the planning stages. So this was a 'reinforcing' rather than an 'introductory' week when it came to teaching cooking to the Milton children and their teachers and parents. The Cooking Bus team reported only responsive, enthusiastic and positive children in their sessions, who already knew quite a lot about ingredients, healthy eating messages and various cooking techniques. They made Twice-baked Jacket Potatoes, Chicken Ruby, Vegetable Samosas and Sunset Pasta Salad, amongst other delicious dishes. At the end of the week, the headteacher, expressing the appreciation of all the various groups in the school, said he would very much treasure a return visit - just to keep the school's food passion and skills a-building - and that the Bus visit had had a remarkably positive impact on pupils, staff and parents alike.

MARY RUSSELL SCHOOL, GLASGOW - SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The new Scottish Government-FSAS-supported Cooking Bus had a warm reception when it visited the Mary Russell School in Glasgow - from the top down! The headteacher, who is also the Health Promotion co-ordinator for the school, is actively involved in a number of whole-school approaches to healthy eating, including breakfast clubs and parent workshops. Many parents, plus teachers from the local high school, and even the local councillor for East Renfrewshire (who did not manage to attend sessions) were most impressed with their tour of the Bus and assured the Cooking Bus team that they would 'spread the word' of the Focus on Food Campaign. But it was the pupils whose response was most rewarding: they worked skilfully at making their dishes and were very demonstrative in their gratitude for the hands-on cookery training they received. Even their teachers were surprised at their pupils' active and unflagging interest throughout the sessions! Some pupils even decided there and then that they wanted to be professional chefs when they finish school, and that the Cooking Bus team was 'the best'! With teachers, too, describing their Inset as 'inspirational', the team left feeling that much excellent food, health and dietary work had been achieved. The headteacher has even promised to write to the Scottish Government in a paean of praise for the Focus on Food Campaign!

OUR LADY AND ST PATRICK'S HIGH SCHOOL, DUMBARTON - SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The students of Our Lady and St Patrick's High School in Dumbarton were firmly on the cooking track even before the arrival of the Scottish Government-FSAS-supported Cooking Bus to their school - with the focus of the visit (bread-making) already agreed and thorough prior organization for the visit firmly in place. It was good to see, too, that pupils had a thorough knowledge of ingredients and were positive about trying new foods. And as for the teachers, the Inset was well attended by Home Economics teachers, students, classroom assistants, the deputy headteacher, the catering manager, the school liaison officer and a number of teachers from neighbouring primary schools - the last group very keen to go home and both incorporate Cooking into their own curriculum as well as to apply immediately for their very own Cooking Bus visit. Even some visitors from the Department of Environmental Health asked whether they would be eligible for a Cooking Bus visit, as a way of 'livening up' their teaching sessions! Both teachers and pupils said how impressed they were with the teaching skills of the Cooking Bus team (the headteacher suggested that the school staff might have to 'step up their mark' from now on!) and that they would all love another visit as soon as possible.

>JANUARY 2009

WINNINGTON PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL, NORTHWICH – FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

A warm welcome amid arctic conditions was the order of the day from Winnington Park Primary School! Because of the very cold weather on the first day, all the water tanks and pumps were frozen and had to be defrosted with a portable heater before sessions could begin on the Cooking Bus – but begin they did and with much eagerness. Over the past three years, Winnington Park has achieved, amongst other awards, the Arts mark, the Active mark and the national Healthy Schools award; their school cook runs a well-attended cooking club after school; and each class is growing a different vegetable crop in the new school garden - so the patently proactive pupils were fair champing at the bit to get on board the Bus and make inroads into the cooking challenge. The Cooking Bus team was much taken with the ‘Winning’ ways of the Winnington Park pupils, whose listening skills, manners and levels of enthusiasm were all very good. It was very pleasing to see how receptive the younger children were to new ingredients, smells and tastes, and photographers from the Northwich Chronicle and the Northwich Guardian were equally delighted to catch them in the act – of skilful cooking.

PARKLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL, BRADFORD – FSA-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Parkland Primary School children were voted a pleasure to have on the Cooking Bus, with their excellent listening skills and almost bursting enthusiasm: the pupils were keen to display new cooking skills before they had even been shown – yet they nonetheless followed instructions to the letter, so important in the cooking environment. Teaching staff at the school were equally eager to cook; they loved the food they had prepared and were really positive about the potential ‘flavour’ that cooking sessions could add to the teaching curriculum, especially for KS2 children. The arrival of their COOKIT will give them an opportunity to start a cooking club and initiate food-themed events in the school. The headteacher was delighted with the Cooking Bus visit and voiced the request of the student council that it return for another visit. As the Bus pulled out of the car park, children were to be seen at classroom windows holding up good-bye messages – sad only that their week with the Cooking Bus and its team had come to an end, but looking forward to seeing photographs of themselves and their cooking successes in the pages of the Bradford Telegraph and Argus.

MORLEY HIGH SCHOOL, LEEDS – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

At Morley High School in Leeds, KS3 students study Food Technology and, at KS4, all students study GCSE Product Design. When the Cooking Bus team arrived, a group of Year 11 students was busy preparing menus for an airline meal they had designed. The students were keen then to put their ‘theory’ into practice and try their hands at the real thing, and were enthusiastic and diligent in their cooking sessions on board the Bus. Although many of them were initially reluctant to try foods that were new to them, most of them were fair itching to tuck into the attractive and delicious dishes they had made themselves. And it generated a lot of whole-school interest as well, with both teaching and kitchen staff visiting the Bus - no doubt following the mouth-watering aromas – to see what the students were up to – and so too did a reporter from The Morley Observer! Overall, the week was rewarding, with grateful and freshly skilled cooks-in-the-making as evidence of a successful week at Morley High.

HUDDERSFIELD NEW COLLEGE – YORKSHIRE FORWARD-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Huddersfield New College is a sixth-form college with over 2,000 full-time students, most of whom are studying Advanced-level programmes - but some vocational programmes are offered. And as many of the students are going on to university next year, their sessions on the Cooking Bus were designed to encourage them to cook for themselves. As they cooked, they also talked through the benefits of home-cooking to their health and to their finances - and many students seemed persuaded by the advice and said that they would now start trying to cook for themselves more often. Some were, of course, already experienced cooks who had a good knowledge of ingredients and cooking methods; while the less experienced amongst them were very positive in attitude and were willing to try foods they did not usually eat. At the staff sessions, Food teachers from local secondary schools and school nurses who worked with students at the college also seemed to delight in creating appealing and delectable food all by themselves. A photographer from The Huddersfield Examiner visited the Cooking Bus just at the time when the principal of the college was giving a hand with the washing-up – so the Cooking Bus visit certainly came across to the reading public as, amongst other things, a democratic and across-the-board experience!

GLANHOWY PRIMARY SCHOOL, TREDEGAR, BLAENAU GWENT – WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

At Glanhowy Primary School in Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, there were smiles and courtesies enough to warm the chilliest January days. There was a lovely reception upon arrival of the Cooking Bus, the prior organization was expertly handled and, as the week progressed, it was clear that all the children in Years 4, 5 and 6 were going to prove keen and enthusiastic when it came to developing their cooking skills. Not that they were complete novices, of course, as there is already some cooking on the curriculum. The headteacher remarked upon the positive impact that the specialist Cooking Bus training was having on the pupils, staff and parents who attended sessions. Now, as a result of the visit, the school is planning the implementation of an after-school cooking club, the purchase of new cooking equipment for the Juniors, and perhaps converting a space in the Junior block for cooking. The HSC for Blaenau Gwent attended a session on the Cooking Bus, along with the PSE co-ordinator for the County, so it was good impressions all round - from pupils to regional administration – left behind when the Cooking Bus finally went on its way.

YSGOL CARWE, LLANELLI, CARMARTHENSHIRE – WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

This was a delightful week for the WAG Cooking Bus team. The prior organization and enthusiasm from this very small but perfectly formed school made everything easy - and lots of support for the Cooking Bus programme simply ‘made life lovely’, in the team’s words! There is already some cooking on the curriculum at Ysgol Carwe and they currently use their Art room as a Food Technology room, where there is only limited cooking equipment – so the school is hugely looking forward to receiving its COOKIT. In addition to other health-related initiatives, a group of parents runs a Walk to School scheme; and they also run a Food and Fitness week every year. As well as very rewarding pupil sessions for pupils of both Ysgol Carwe and the even smaller Ysgol Bancffosfelen, the staff sessions were also well received: teachers, headteachers and LSAs from both of the schools, plus teachers from neighbouring Cefneithin and Crosshands Schools, attended - and eleven parents from the Ysgol Carwe rolled up to their session, which was most pleasing considering that there are only 60 children in the school! The culinary successes of the children were recorded in pictures in the pages of The Llannelli Star the following week. And according to the headteacher of Ysgol Carwe, everyone in Llannelli really appreciated the visit of the Cooking Bus that week!

NEYLAND COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL – WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The Cooking Bus, when it arrived to teach cooking skills to the children and staff of Neyland Community Primary School, was lucky enough to be parked in a very attractive spot: on the marina near the water’s edge, where it also attracted a lot of local attention. It was a real community week, with sessions offered not only to the school’s population but to the members of the town’s Pupil Referral Unit, to teachers from other schools and even to the town’s community police officer. At all sessions, the young cooks were well behaved, polite and keen to learn. And in acknowledgement of the fine culinary work of both the Neyland School and town communities, and of the Cooking Bus team itself, reporters from the The Western Telegraph took photographs and conducted interviews, and the Healthy School Co-ordinator for the County organized a film crew to take footage of sessions on the Bus, as testimony to the some of the fine health and dietary work that is happening in this part of Wales.

YSGOL GWENFFRWD, HOLYWELL, FLINTSHIRE – WAG-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

It was very good fortune for all concerned that Holywell High School offered to accommodate the Cooking Bus on its site for the week of the visit to Ysgol Gwenffrwd. With the schools a mere half-mile away from each other, the younger pupils were happy to walk to Holywell High but no doubt wished, as they went, for drier weather conditions! Even then, they managed to arrive on time for every session. Ysgol Gwenffrwd pupils are already immersed in the good-food culture: they run a healthy-breakfast club within their school, as well as a fruit tuck shop which is encouraging pupils to eat healthily all across the school day. They also run an after-school cooking club. Interestingly, all of the sessions on the Cooking Bus for this week were delivered in the Welsh language. Holywell High School pupils were offered a session on the Bus as well, as a thank-you gesture for hosting the visit, and sixteen Year 11 students who are part of the school’s Youth Inclusion scheme were treated to a much-appreciated cooking workshop. Word spread quickly and it was not long before reporters from The Flintshire Chronicle and The Evening Leader were on the Bus with their cameras and microphones. Overall, this was a very rewarding week, the young people and staff becoming visibly more enthusiastic about cooking as each day went by.

SOWERBY COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL, THIRSK – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

The Cooking Bus team received a warm welcome from staff on arrival at Sowerby Community Primary School and were made to feel part of the school community throughout the week. The school integrated the Cooking Bus visit into a whole-school focus week based on Cooking and Food; and the community training session was planned to develop and promote the Pass It On campaign, encouraging participants to cascade cooking skills and recipes down through the school and out into the wider community. In addition, this Cooking Bus visit was promoted in the December issue of ‘Sowerby Now’, with headteacher Jean Yendall remarking in the article that ‘being selected as a flagship school is great news for our children, their families and even local farmers’. The school has worked hard at improving and developing its environment: there are new outdoor seating areas and a kitchen garden complete with raised beds, decking, a new potting shed and seasonal compost bins. Over the week of the Cooking Bus visit, good-quality organic vegetables were kindly donated by River Swale Organic Vegetables (soon to become Riverford) and, in an interesting cross-curricular link to History, Year 6 pupils prepared ‘authentic’ Wartime recipes such as Stuffed Onions and Scones. And all the lovely cooking activity was caught on camera and later featured in the pages of The Thirsk Weekly News.

WANDLE VALLEY SCHOOL, CARSHALTON, SURREY – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Wandle Valley School runs a successful Outreach programme, which is open to all Sutton primary and secondary schools. The school’s motto ‘Together Everyone Achieves More’ reflects the central aim of the school. Cooking facilities at the school consist of a specialist catering teaching room and a smaller kitchen classroom that has just been refurbished to enable up to fourteen students to cook – so students have the opportunity to cook regularly. In addition, the older students run the Wandle Valley’s ‘bistro’ which caters for both in-house and out-of-school events (recent successes have included an afternoon tea for 120 people and a buffet lunch for 180!). Students have also been successful in heats of the Young Rotary Chef competition. So it is not surprising that the Cooking Bus team was very impressed with the overall levels of culinary skill demonstrated by Wandle Valley pupils – and they even spotted a number of outstanding students, who could potentially have a career in catering; and others for whom the new cooking experience was really boosting their self-esteem. In addition, the support from staff was very heart-warming from start to finish. The Sutton Guardian also endorsed the success of the week by featuring photographs of Wandle Valley’s young cooks at work.

WEST BYFLEET JUNIOR SCHOOL – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

West Byfleet Junior School is well on its way to a really successful whole-school food culture. The school has a well-equipped and very colourful cookery room; it has a cooking club, which offers three sessions a week and which is run by a parent and governor; and, while the school garden is only in its infancy and not fully developed, each form group grows a ‘crop’ in pots and small planters. For the week of the FFLP Cooking Bus visit, Year 4 pupils, who are studying an Indian village in Geography, prepared recipes which reflected this project; and mixed groups of pupils from Years 3, 5 and 6 made such attractive dishes as Fruity Muffins and Kaleidoscope Cous Cous, the younger pupils working with the older ones in very successful team-work. Across the board, the pupils of West Byfleet Junior were well motivated: they had good listening skills and instructions rarely had to be repeated. Reporters from The Woking News and Mail and The Woking Informer were equally as impressed as the Cooking Bus team when they came with their cameras to snap the children at their culinary brilliance!

DEVONSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOL, LONDON – FFLP-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

W = Welcome! That is how the Cooking Bus team was made to feel on arrival at Devonshire Primary School in South London. The school is dedicated to healthy eating, with its own breakfast club and a policy which encourages the children to eat fruit and vegetables every day; the school is also a nut-free zone. The children were well groomed and had impeccable manners and very good listening skills. They loved the dishes they made themselves, such as Spanakopitta, Potato and Beetroot Salad and Breadsticks – the last which the Cooking Bus team deemed as good as those that any professional bakery would turn out! The children had a good knowledge of ingredients, healthy eating and basic hygiene. One session was attended by carers: a mixture of young adults and children, all of whom devote much of their lives to looking after an ill or disabled relative and who found that the cooking skills they learnt on the Cooking Bus would help them with their work at home. The school’s teaching assistants had a double session and, at the end, said that they could hardly wait to start teaching the children the skills they had learnt. So at the end, the Cooking Bus team decided that W = Well done, Devonshire Primary!

ST THOMAS’ PRIMARY SCHOOL, WISHAW, NORTH LANARKSHIRE - SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

During the Cooking Bus visit to St Thomas’ Primary School in Wishaw, recipes were carefully chosen to match practical skills appropriate to P2 – P5 pupils and to support the school’s request to incorporate Scottish cookery and ingredients into the sessions. Pupils had some knowledge of ingredients and were positive about trying new foods. Staff reported that feedback from pupils after sessions was enthusiastic and very positive and that P1 children were making drawings of their happy experience on the Cooking Bus. Representatives from North Lanarkshire Council visited the Cooking Bus to see the children in cooking action, and one of them was so impressed with the skilful work that he saw being taught and learnt on the Cooking Bus that he offered headteacher Helen Crawley significant funding to enable consistent follow-up of the work initiated by the Cooking Bus team. Staff at the school reported that they were excited at the prospect of incorporating cookery into their curriculum, and that they would love another visit from the Cooking Bus as soon as possible. Photographs of the clever St Thomas’ chefs were taken by reporters from both The Wishaw Press and The Evening Times.

AUCHINRAITH PRIMARY SCHOOL, BLANTYRE - SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Auchinraith Primary School in Blantyre had requested, for their visit from the Cooking Bus, a focus on healthy eating, specifically related to snacks and lunchboxes. In addition, recipes were chosen to include a multicultural aspect to food linking in to Geography, Social Cultures and Foods from Other Lands. All pupils appeared enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy their workshops: they were positive about trying new foods and knowledgeable about hygiene, the origins of food and healthy eating messages. Staff too were eager to learn new cookery skills: they participated fully during both discussions and practical work and were full of good humour, with every intention of getting more cooking on to their curriculum. A photographer from The Hamilton Advertiser and a reporter from a local radio station recorded the culinary successes of the pupils. The Cooking Bus team was presented with thank-you gifts and cards, plus a note from the headteacher making the most rewarding remark of all: that that it was now up to the school to continue the good food and cooking work that the Cooking Bus had started.

KYLE ACADEMY, AYR, AYRSHIRE - SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT/FSAS-SUPPORTED COOKING BUS

Kyle Academy in Ayr gave a warm welcome to the Cooking Bus. Recipes had been carefully chosen in advance to match practical skills appropriate to S1 – S4 pupils and to support the whole-school approach to healthy eating across the curriculum. Recipes were chosen to include a multicultural aspect to food, linking to Geography, Social Cultures and Foods from Other Lands. All pupils appeared enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy their workshops; they were a pleasure to teach, with good manners, a good knowledge of ingredients and a positive attitude about trying new foods. The staff session, too, was well attended by teachers from a wide range of subject specialists. Many teachers commented on how much they had enjoyed their sessions: that they would now consider cross-curricular work and that they would now attempt to integrate food/practical cooking into their curriculum. Reporters from Westside Radio News, The Ayr Post and The Ayrshire Advertiser took a number of photographs and interviewed the budding young chefs, a fair reward for all the youngsters’ successful work on the Cooking Bus.