Ringsfield Church of England Primary School

Now that we have entered a full lockdown again I have resurrected this blog about my work in school with all the children in years 1-6. This time of year my lessons would teach the children how to cook healthy and tasty dishes from the vegetables and fruit they have grown in the school gardens. I know that many children grew vegetables and fruit at home during the last lockdown, so this series of blogs may help you with ideas of what to do with some of it!

In the school gardens I deliberately plan to grow crops that will either store or freeze well until needed for cooking in the late autumn through to early spring. Some vegetables are reasonably frost-hardy and keep in the soil over winter; these include carrots, parsnips, beetroots, chard and leeks. Other produce stores well in a frost-free shed; including onions, garlic, potatoes, pumpkins and some apples. Crops that freeze well for cooking include tomatoes, peas, broad beans, and berries. Finally, I allow the bean seeds we grow to dry on the plants and then pod them out to finish drying on trays before putting them in jars to store until needed to cook as pulses.

Because there are two year groups in each class, I run a two year rolling programme of cooking lessons so that children don’t repeat recipes over their time at the schools. The lessons introduce and practise a range of skills and focus on aspects of science and maths (particularly measurement).

The choice of recipes is constrained by the time available to complete them, the skills involved, the age of the children, how easy the food is to serve and eat, and how child-friendly it is with consideration of any food allergies. Recipes also have to suit the types of fruits and vegetables we grow. Most of the dishes produced by each class are shared with all the children in years 1-6 though some are taken home to share with the children’s families.