As we emerge from winter and welcome spring, children at Washingborough Academy have welcomed their grandparents to the school to help them plant their new batch of vegetable seeds.
Following the success of the project last year, the school has now decided to grow a more diverse selection of vegetables and fruits to include more heritage types, such as white beetroot, trombone courgettes and chocolate cherry tomatoes.
Through the Food Education curriculum, which the school has embedded into its classes, weekly TastEd lessons encourage the children to use all five of their senses to help expand their palates; by planting and growing the produce, children are much more likely to try fresh produce that they may not have been exposed to before.
This also enables the school to teach them that there are many more varieties of fruit and vegetables than you will find in the supermarkets.
The school has also welcomed visitors from Sweden, Italy and Portugal as part of DEMETER – a three-year project that encourages links between schools and farms.
This complements another project that the school is pioneering with LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), whereby classes are linked with farmers throughout the country via Skype or FaceTime.
Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership 