We are proud to announce Bedford Girls’ School has successfully achieved a Food for Life Bronze Award. The Award programme, run by the Soil Association, champions healthy, tasty and sustainable meals in schools and aims to raise awareness of the importance of knowing where our food comes from and the benefit of using local, seasonal produce. At Bronze level, schools have to demonstrate they are meeting twenty-seven separate standards across four themes of Food Quality, Leadership & Culture, Food Education and Community & Partnerships.
Bedford Girls’ School had already established a precedent for providing nutritious, freshly-prepared and delicious school meals to pupils with the launch of The Green Kitchen and Green’s food offer. Achieving the Bronze Award recognises this and the many other initiatives we have introduced in recent times.
Mr Skipper, Executive Head Chef of Greens, adds: “The Greens team, Mrs Morgan (Senior School Eco Co-ordinator) and the Eco Council have worked hard towards achieving this award. We have learnt so much about the sustainability of food and investing in the future of farming in this country and we are extremely proud to be part of this.
A key element of the Award application is to demonstrate how the ingredients used are sustainably sourced and traceable. The Green Kitchen only use Marine Conservation Society or Marine Stewardship Council certified fish, all our meat and meat products are Red Tractor approved and the eggs are from free-range hens. Where we are able, we source locally and co-ordinate our menus to fit with what is in season. Furthermore, the new Green’s Kitchen Garden has supplied us with a variety of school-grown fruit and vegetables, all of which have been put to good use by our talented Chefs. We also look forward to our Cople Fields orchard bearing fruit in the next year or so.
Engaging with pupils and parents is another important consideration for the Award. The Green Kitchen staff are always there to help with pupil food choices, explaining about new dishes and promoting a positive dining experience. We actively encourage our pupils and parents to provide suggestions and feedback, and as a direct result of this we have now introduced sports-specific packed lunches, are composting our food waste and have a pre-ordering service at Chequers’ (our Sixth Form café). Parents are always welcome to visit and experience our school lunch service too – if this of interest please email [email protected]
In addition, the topic of healthy, sustainable food feature widely across curriculum subjects. To support learning on where our food comes from, a number of Junior School pupils will have the opportunity to visit a local farm later in the Spring term. Learning first-hand from a farmer about the realities and challenges of food production can be extremely influential, helping to shape how we buy and what we eat.
Simply achieving the Award does not mean the end, Bedford Girls’ School will continue to adhere to the Food for Life principles of providing healthy, nutritious meals, where ingredients are responsibly sourced, together with educating and connecting with our pupils and wider school community to encourage a positive food culture.
To discover more on the Soil Association and/or the Food for Life Award programme visit: https://www.foodforlife.org.uk/about-us
The full Bronze Award criteria can be found here
