Primary school has veggies for lunch planted and picked by their own students

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

A primary school is getting kids outdoors and encouraging them to grow their own food for use in school lunches.

Greenside Primary in Shepherd’s Bush boasts a vibrant veggie patch where what ends up on lunch plates is planted, picked and cooked by students as young as three.

Its 230 eager green thumbs take turns every half term looking after the garden, which even includes a wheat belt that’s picked and used to make the school’s much sought-after sourdough bread.

The school – which has a nursery – has also wholeheartedly embraced tech in the classroom and in the garden and was recently named an Apple Distinguished School thanks to its extensive use of Apple devices.

Deputy head teacher Georgina Webber said they use iPads to send soil sample results into the classrooms and kids FaceTime a farmer in Cornwall to get the latest planting tips.

She said: “The kids do it all. Everyone, from nursery up to Year 6… The kids are great, once they get over the fact that it’s not dirt [it’s soil].”

 

They grow everything from radishes and kale to chard, spinach, lettuce and tomatoes and have seedlings banked up in a greenhouse. She said it was “standard” for kids pick a tomato or some lettuce and eat them that very lunchtime.

There have also been times they’ve had enough veg to see them through summer.

Ms Webber said: “We’ve had about 1,000 kilos of courgettes come out of this garden last year. Whatever we don’t use – the trimmings for example – we’ll try to ferment as much as possible. 

“For example, we had bok choy. Rather than throwing it away over the holiday, it’s been fermenting. We then chop it up and put it into the salad.”

She said kids go away from the garden with a smile on their face and a deeper understanding of where their food comes from.

What’s not eaten gets bundled with excess food sent in from local grocers which pupils cook and package into meals, which are then sent to a homeless charity.

Greenside’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. When the school went vegetarian a few years ago, it caught the attention of Jamie Oliver who ended up filming an episode of his 2019 series Meat Free Meals there.

Head teacher Karen Bastick-Styles said ditching meat was as much a financial decision as an ethical one.

She explained the chicken burgers kids ate were “poor quality” and the school’s large multicultural community meant catering for their nutritional needs became tricky.

Pictured top: Arwen, left, and Saja working in Greenside Primary’s veggie patch (Picture: Adrian Zorzut)