Dispelling the myth that you should never work with children, Kate Kilburn is an enthusiastic chef given a big mission – to teach young enquiring minds about the world of food.
Kate’s work at Orford Primary School is facilitated by EastFeast, an educational charity promoting gardening, arts and cookery as a vehicle for wholesome holistic learning across the school curriculum. Under their employ, Kate is working with Richard Dedicoat, animated supporter of the EastFeast mission and headteacher at Orford Primary School, alongwith his equally keen team of teachers, staff, parents and volunteers.
Joining a group of budding eight year old Nigellas and Jamies, season spent a morning in the school’s brand new kitchen classroom, enabling 10 pupils at a time to prepare raw ingredients and cook them into their own hearty healthy lunch. February was not a great time to see their fabulous gardening plot in any form of lush glory so Kate was relying on great produce from the village butcher, local farms and other regional foodie artisans, showing the children that there is definitely more to food than the local supermarket.
On the two course menu that day were Orford pork sausages, garlic mash, Peakhill Farm wilted kale and onion gravy followed by pancakes with High House apples in a cinnamon-cardamom fudge sauce. As well as the obvious benefits of teaching these hungry food loving youngsters about where foodstuffs come from, what good food tastes like and how much fun it is to get cooking, each lesson identifies the core skills imparted during the lesson – in this case it would be sieving, whisking, peeling, cutting, slicing, baking, measuring and egg cracking.
The EastFeast link up at Orford Primary School (Church of England Voluntary Aided) started in January 2007, with the development of their own productive garden for fruit, and vegetables as the first phase. That growing season culminated in a bumper feast prepared for the local community from the natural bounty, developing the school’s ties and involvement with the village.
One interesting development from the polytunnel in the grounds has been the pupils’ own salad supply company, Luscious Leaves, which even recently featured on CBBC’s Newsround programme. Catering for the likes of David Grimwood at the Froize in Chillesford and Garry Cook at the Crown in Snape, they sell their lovingly harvested leaves to local chefs and restaurants.
2008 saw the arrival of artists on a regular basis to work with the youngsters to link the outside and inside, using the growing medium and the produce as edible natural subjects for creative study. Now in 2009, Kate’s arrival as resident EastFeast cookery teacher and the creation of the kitchen classroom, funded by the Diocese and outside agencies are clearly very exciting developments for the school and all those aspiring chefs. Special mention should be made of Louise Holland, Jamie Oliver’s deputy, who privately took it upon herself to source support from a range of very generous donor companies to fully equip and furnish the very practical kitchen.
Asking Richard why he thought the whole soil to plate exercise worked so well for his pupils, he talked of a broad learning base, far wider than more channelled academic subjects, a sensory enriching activity which calls for as much physical and emotional engagement as mental capacity. Even children who might find intellectual elements in school a harder challenge than most often flourish when they can demonstrate their non-cerebral talents off to the fore, developing life skills and motor neurone techniques as well of course their vivid imaginations.
Every Tuesday and Wednesday the doors open to Years 3 to 6, so 7 to 11 year olds, with each novice chef cooking every three weeks and this will continue throughout the school year. The pupils get to do everything from scratch, constantly guided and watched by Kate and three volunteers but only being helped if things are particularly dangerous or heavy - they cook it, they eat it! After proper risk assessment and due diligence, it is positive to see even stoves and sharp knives being used by all.
Come lunchtime the hungry children lay up their own special dining table in the canteen, with a written menu, proper plates, cutlery and serviettes, which really gives them a sense of pride and achievement.
The adults say
“We are delighted that we can now take this valuable green project to the next stage and enable the children to not only plant, grow and farm their own produce but to learn how to cook using their own ingredients” Richard Dedicoat, headteacher
“I was really keen to get involved with the project as it was a completely new and very exciting idea and the perfect job for me, cooking, which I love, and working in the school which my children go to. I get so much back - seeing the real enjoyment from every child in the class - they absolutely love cooking at such an early age, and it is wonderful to see them trying different types of food they wouldn’t normally go for, like russian kale, savoy cabbage and roast parsnips. The best moment is when they come back for seconds!! When each child returned for the next lesson there was already a vast improvement in their skills, they were much more confident. My funniest comment from a pupil was “my Mum’s bread and butter pudding never looks like this, hers is always burnt!”.” Kate Kilburn, cookery teacher
“Suffolk has a strong network of local food producers, which makes this a really important project for EastFeast. We hope its success will help more children in the country to enjoy cooking. ‘Its fantastic to see the schools garden flourishing, knowing that children will be using its produce to cook their own seasonal menu - all within just a few minutes from garden to table. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Orford and to all those producers and businesses who have helped bring the project to life. We are now seeing it go from strength to strength now, as children grow their confidence and expertise in such an authentic way” Clare Chacksfield, EastFeast director
The children say:
“A nice change from mum and dad making our food, we get a chance to do it ourselves” Charlie - Year 5
“I can’t wait to get home and cook it for the family” Harry - Year 6
“It’s all about being independent and learning news skills” Elli - Year 5
“ It gives us as children a chance to eat something new, to test our taste buds, learn about safety and what ingredients you can and can’t mix” Jamie - Year 6
Cultivating Creative Learning
A creative team of professional gardeners, artists and teachers, EastFeast helps schools deliver more effective learning based on working a school allotment through the seasons, culminating in a community feast. We work with pupils and teachers to develop the outdoor classroom, cultivating shared learning about the world in which we live through food and art.
How do we do what we do?
EastFeast (EF) brings experienced creative practitioners in gardening, art, cookery and the
like into schools to work in partnership with teachers. The EF method is based on children working a neighbourhood allotment or alternatively garden space in the school grounds through the seasons.
Based on a pilot project completed in Aldeburgh in 2005, we currently work in 18 schools in Suffolk and Essex, across a diverse range of contexts, including primary schools in urban and rural areas, a pupil referral unit and two high schools. Over 20 artists, 8 gardeners and now Kate, our first cooking instructor are involved in the project to date with many local parents and volunteers helping to make each EastFeast year a growing success in their local community.
The facts
EF is an educational charity, (currently applying to become a charity) with funding from a range of sources including Creative Partnerships, Arts Council, Esmée Fairbairn, The AONB Sustainable Development Fund and Local Food. A number of local businesses give essential support to the local work including, Southwold Pier, Thorpeness and Aldeburgh Hotels, Notcutts and the Adnams Charity.
We have just been working as one of eight National Field Trials in the country, commissioned by the Innovation Unit and the Training Development Agency for Teachers to explore the theme of ‘ Communities for Learning’ with us as the only third sector organisation involved, which is significant.
Creative Partnerships, the government flagship project for creativity in schools has commissioned Eastfeast to run learning enquiries in 10 schools in Suffolk and Essex .
We have just worked with Tastes of Anglia at Feast East, their regional food festival, running the education area which was a great success and so we hope to build on this relationship, working on other future projects too.
EF hopes to work in a further 50 schools between 2010 -2014 with its new programme ‘To know our world through a plot of land’. This will link local food producers, food artisans and schools together and enable us to sustain our work with Suffolk Anglia Ruskin University whilst a research study with Professor Jules Pretty of Essex University will also support the learning process.
Clare Chacksfield, EastFeast Director
Contact EastFeast
For further details, to find out more about being involved with EF’s work or to order a copy of our DVDs, contact us on 01728 454532, or click onto www.eastfeast.co.uk.
For anyone interested in the professional development aspect of what we do, a week long Summer University is taking place at Belstead House, Ipswich from 27 – 31 July 2009. Places are available for teachers, artists, gardeners, cooks and others. The week will include a range of practical activities using the beautiful grounds there.
