Chef Poppy O’Toole with youngsters at Holly Hill Church School in the West Midlands (Image: Jonathan Hipkiss)
Tesco has launched phase two of its incredible campaign to deliver more fruit and veg to youngsters in some of the UK’s most deprived areas. In October, the supermarket giant launched its Fruit & Veg for Schools initiative – supported by the Daily Express – a first-of-its kind project helping 140,000 primary and secondary pupils at 400 schools eat at least one piece of fresh fruit or veg every day.
The project, developed in partnership with the British Nutrition Foundation, aims to provide pupils in disadvantaged areas with at least one piece of fruit or veg every day – in total providing around 16 million pieces of produce over the course of a school year or 110 portions per child on average. Now Tesco is giving schools slow cookers in a bid to introduce pupils to cooking.
Studies show youngsters tend to be more willing to eat vegetables they’ve been involved in cooking themselves. It’s hoped they will then take the skills into adulthood, thus starting a virtuous circle.
One of the schools taking advantage of the programme is Holly Hill Church School in Rubery in the West Midlands. Funding allocated to each school is proportionate to the number of pupils – ranging from £4,000 to £21,000 annually.
Bursar Michelle Evans goes out each weekend to buy the fruit and veg using the gift card provided by Tesco. She said: “We are based in one of the most deprived parts of Birmingham. If we can relieve pressure on parents, we will do what we can.
“We try to give the children something different every day. We had lychees last week, we’ve had mangos, papaya, melon and passionfruit – it’s a great way for them to try new things. Sometimes it will be different-sized carrots or yellow or orange tomatoes. When we ask them if they’ve tried these things before most of the time, they say no.”
The scope for the slow cookers is huge, with assistant headteacher Cally Parsonage looking for ways to utilise the device – not only to fill bellies but also as part of everyday learning in the classroom. The preparation of food can involve mathematics in measurements and budgeting, science in nutrition and literacy in writing down recipes.
She explains: “I’m now looking at how I can incorporate the slow cookers into the curriculum. In the past when children have prepared foods, like gingerbread men at Christmas, they had to be taken to the kitchen to cook and then brought back to them in the classroom. Now it will be great for the children to see their food being cooked from start to finish.”
Youngsters at Holly Hill Church School in Rubery, West Mids, are vegging out (Image: Jonathan Hipkiss)
Holly Hill Church School headteacher Mark Carr said: “The Tesco Fruit & Veg for Schools scheme has allowed us to help children try fruit and veg that they wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to try, resulting in them getting a healthier diet and making healthier choices.
“The children look forward to their breakfast fruit snacks and are excited to come to school to see what they have that day. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries have been the biggest hits so far.”
Cally added: “As a result of the Tesco Fruit & Veg for Schools scheme, we’ve seen greater punctuality and it’s taken that pressure off parents. The children get really excited. They run straight over to the big red trays in the morning to find out what fruit and veg they’ve got. It gives opportunities for children to try a wide variety of fruit and vegetables from nursery through to Y2 and this gives them healthier bodies and minds.”
She continues: “The children look forward to the breakfasts because we have a conversation around the food and this helps to build oracy and vocab. We have a really strong focus on, as John Wesley (theologian) said, ‘Living life to the fullest’ and are doing all we can to enable that for our children.
“Parents have responded well to the fruit and veg, they’ve been actively talking about it because they know their children are having breakfast.”
Many of the 400 schools taking part in the Tesco Fruit & Veg for Schools scheme are taking up the offer of slow cookers – an initiative that came from a suggestion by a teacher at Hillborough Junior School in Luton, Beds, who used a Tesco Stronger Starts grant to set up a slow cooker club that saw pupils prepare and cook meals and take them home for their families to share.
According to The Institute For Global Food Security at Queens University Belfast, learning to cook at a young age can set young people up with positive dietary patterns for adulthood. Only 12% of children aged between 11 and 18 are meeting the five-a-day recommendation and for children taking part in the scheme, Tesco expects to see their overall fruit and veg intake increase by 23%, based on the average five-a-day intakes in school-aged children.
Ten of thousands of pupils across the UK are benefiting from fresh fruit and veg (Image: Jonathan Hipkiss)
Further research by FareShare among 10,000 teachers, found that 28% of teachers across England have brought in food for pupils in the last term, which is up from 26% in summer term 2023.
Only 12% of children aged between 11 and 18 are meeting the five-a-day recommendation.
Celebrity chef Poppy O’Toole, who is supporting the campaign, explains: “Making sure young people have a healthy diet packed with nutritious food is an important part of giving them a stronger start in life.
“Getting youngsters involved in preparing and cooking food is the best way to encourage them to try new foods and help them develop healthy eating habits that will hopefully stay with them for life.”
Elaine Hindal, Chief Executive of the British Nutrition Foundation, adds: “We are delighted to see that the scheme has already delivered almost 2.5 million portions of fruit and vegetables into schools, contributing to improving diets of children and young people.
“It’s particularly inspiring to see the wide variety of different produce being purchased. With over 80 different types so far, from asparagus to edamame and persimmon to pomegranate, these varieties may be new to children and likely out of reach on the tight budget that schools usually have to work to.”
Celebrity chef Poppy O’Toole is supporting Tesco’s Fruit & Veg For Schools scheme (Image: Jonathan Hipkiss)
Since the launch of the Tesco Fruit & Veg for Schools scheme in October, thousands of children have enjoyed a piece of fresh fruit or veg every day. The supermarket giant estimates that almost 2.5 million portions of fruit and veg have been consumed.
Claire De Silva, Head of Communities at Tesco, says: “Tesco Fruit & Veg for Schools is making a significant difference by providing young people with more of the essential vitamins and minerals they need to thrive. The slow cookers will go even further in encouraging pupils to give healthy foods a try and form habits that will stay with them as they grow up.”
“Being able to get kids involved in cooking is great, a lot of children watch my videos, which is nice,” adds social media cooking queen Poppy.
“It’s about getting kids seeing more fruit and veg, understanding that pumpkins are not just for carving at Halloween but that you can eat them too. It’s about them exploring the journey of food, trying things they’ve not tried before.
“And, if they’ve helped cook it, they’re more likely to try it. The kids at Holly Hill Church School have been great. Some of them hadn’t seen peas and sweetcorn and leeks before and they really enjoyed eating the meal from the slow cooker afterwards.
“It’s about getting everyone a bit more inspired to see how easy and accessible cooking in the slow cooker can be. It’s also a great way of utilising those yellow label foods that are close to their best before date. Just pop them in the slow cooker and you have a delicious meal.”