Chichester and Arundel Lifestyle Nov - Dec 2020

ADVERTISING FEATURE
great ballard join the grow club
It’s been 15 years since Jamie Oliver’s campaign to
revolutionise school meals but he must have been proud about
the MBE awarded to Marcus Rashford this month. TV chefs,
franchise restaurants and Turkey Twizzlers may come and go
but school food remains high on the national agenda.
This is hardly surprising. Research
consistently backs what parents know,
that healthy food choices are linked to
better self-esteem, increased resilience
and enhanced emotional well-being. It’s
common sense that nutrition should lie
at the heart of the curriculum. Darren
Castleman, chef at Great Ballard recently
joined the team and is excited by the
school’s pupil centred mission. “We are
reviewing our offering to meet the 4H
approach and consider every individual.
If there are worries we can meet each
child to discuss how to help. We can
use cookery lessons to introduce new
foods or even encourage them to grow
the very things they think they hate. We
want to reduce anxiety and change the
relationships children have with food by
focussing not just on “what” they eat but
“why” they eat it”
Jamie’s plans included teaching children
to cook and, while it is fantastic to
see food technology on the primary
curriculum, it remains under-resourced
and undervalued in this age of SATs and
testing. Most children learn little about
nutrition and gain almost no practical
cooking experience in secondary schools.
At the age when they need to understand
their bodies and diets the most, the
teaching of cookery shrinks back to being
a hobby rather than a key life skill.
The picture is even grimmer when
it comes to growing food. There is
compelling evidence that experience
cultivating what they later eat helps
children learn independence, improves
their health and well-being and teaches
skills for life. Unfortunately, it is still not a
part of the national curriculum.
Thankfully there are schools ready to
put food and gardening at the top of
their agenda. At Great Ballard the Grow
Club are cultivating winter salads and
vegetables and even wheatgrass, which
will all be served up for lunch. Children
in Pre Prep forage and cook in Forest
schools and Years 3-8 have timetabled
“It shouldn’t matter what options children
take at GCSE or what careers they aspire
to, learning to feed yourself and to live a
healthy, sustainable life is as important as
anything else they learn in school.”
cookery. With the school taking pupils into
Year 9 in September 2021, Great Ballard
are keen that young people continue to
join the dots between what they eat and
what they themselves can grow and cook.
Headmaster Mr Matt King explains: “It
shouldn’t matter what options children
take at GCSE or what careers they aspire
to, learning to feed yourself and to live a
healthy, sustainable life is as important
as anything else they learn in school. We
want to make sure our children from 2
to 16 are taught this and recognise the
impact it can have on their well-being.
We recognise this subject’s value, not just
for its creativity, but for its contribution to
health and fitness alongside PE and Sport
which all our children do every week.”
Jamie Oliver’s dream to achieve
“sustainable change” may yet be alive.
The next generation will inherit a world
of problems related to the poor food
related choices we have made. From
rising obesity to malnutrition and from
unsustainable farming practices to climate
change it is clear a new direction is
required. As so often, the answer lies with
education and Great Ballard is teaching
children how to sow the seeds for a
healthier future.
Discover more at www.greatballard.co.uk
Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram: @greatballard
E: office@greatballard.co.uk
T: 01243 814236
www.chichesterlifestyle.co.uk | 11