GOOD NEWS
LANDSCOVE SCOOPS FIRST PRIZELandscove School is proud to announce that we are winners of the Soil Association's School Food Award 2005, together with Lethbridge Primary School in Swindon. Over 80 schools took part nationally, and our joint adventure with Riverford Organic Vegetable Farm into the world of organic school lunches has paid off in a big way.
On Thursday, 24th November, at the BBCGood Food Show, held in the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, representatives from Landscove Primary School and Riverford were presented with the joint first prize by Jamie Oliver and Jeanette Orrey, the Soil Association's School Meals Policy Advisor.
The prize was a cheque for £625 worth of kitchen equipment, and a beautiful blue glass plate commemorating the event . The decision to give a joint award was discussed at length, and in the end the judges felt that as both schools were achieving so much, the fairest way forward, would be to reward both schools for the work that is being done.
Mr Smith, the Governors and Guy Watson of Riverford Organic Vegetable Farm are all delighted with the success. Mr Smith said "The improvement of school dinners is something that the governors and I have looked at many times during the last few years, and we are very happy to have at last been able to have our plans brought to fruition."
He continued, "Being surrounded by fields growing vegetables or containing grazing livestock, I always wanted the children to have a better connection with the annual cycle of planting and harvesting. I wanted them to have an understanding of what grows locally so that they would be able to identify different crops, as well as develop a realisation of just how much of their food comes from far away places. I also wanted them to know what different crops looked like as they are growing. A direct connection with this process was established with Riverford Organic Vegetable Farm,who have established
'The Field Kitchen' at Riverford Farm (approximately 1 mile from the school). We now serve some of the most delicious and nutritious school dinners in the country. The meals are produced in "The Field Kitchen" and delivered to school at 11.55am each day. The menus are based on creative, mouth-watering recipes, combined with whatever produce is currently being harvested at the farm. This often includes little surprises - like the day that the fruit salad contained nasturtiums and the time that the chocolate cake contained courgettes!