NATIONAL FEDERATION OF YOUNG FARMERS' CLUBS
"Fun, Learning, and Achievement"
Food and Farming Newsletter - November 2007
Registrations and pledges
National and regional news
Upcoming events and activities
Welcome to the fourth Year of Food and Farming e-newsletter keeping you up to date with the latest news as the Year progresses!
Registrations and pledges
National and regional news
Year of Food and Farming leads campaign for return of “Stir Up Sunday”
The Year of Food and Farming has joined forces with some of England's top celebrity chefs, to encourage children to get involved with festive food this Christmas. Historically, preparation for Christmas dinner begins on the last Sunday before Advent, called Stir up Sunday. We have been encouraging parents to re-create ‘Stir Up Sunday’, which took place last weekend (24th – 25th November), and enlisted the support of some high profile chefs including Jamie Oliver, Raymond Blanc, Phil Vickery, Rachel Green and Prue Leith, Chair of the School Food Trust. To help foodie families get started, Raymond Blanc and Rachel Green have both donated their favourite Christmas pudding recipe to the Year. You can find the recipes at www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk/FunStuffYorkshire and Humber
The region are joining forces with one of Yorkshire’s top celebrity chefs, Richard Fox, to encourage children to get involved with cooking festive food this Christmas. Richard, who presents the BBC Television series ‘Fox On The Run’ and appears on BBC2’s Food Poker met with children from Harewood School on Friday 23rd November at the Christmas Craft, Gifts & Food show in the grounds of Harewood House.London
The Year of Food and Farming in London will be launched on the morning of the 6th December by Jenny Jones and Sir Don Curry at Lambeth Town Hall, with school heads, key educationalists and representatives from the Food and Farming sector as guests.
West Midlands
The Adopt a Farmer campaign will see primary schools across the region ‘adopt’ a farmer who will give talks and demonstrations to the children and teach them about farming over the course of the year. Herefordshire NFU have compiled a booklet with information for farmers on how they can get involved with the campaign, including contact details of all the organisations in the region that can help support the initiative. For further details contact Oliver Cartwright (01952 409235).North West
North West School Foods Conference - Sir Don Curry will be visiting the North West on the 29th November where he will be attending the School Foods Conference at the JJB stadium in Wigan. As key notes speaker at the conference, due to be attended by 100 delegates, he will be supporting the Year of Food and Farming by providing an update on the progress so far and explaining how schools can get involved. It is hoped that this will be a great platform to promote the aims of the project and encourage schools to take an active part in the year.Upcoming events, activities and resources
Sodexho is pleased to support the Year of Food and Farming be organising hands-on cookery workshops for over 9,000 children, to demonstrate the process from 'farm to plate'.. As a leading caterer, providing nutritious and healthy meals at schools, colleges and universities throughout the UK, it is focused on the importance of food provenance and fresh food preparation. The company is committed to improving the quality of school meals and encouraging children to think about what they eat and the lifestyle they adopt.
NFU Mutual is supporting The Year of Food and Farming by extending participating policyholders’ public liability cover without extra charge. Farmers hosting events as part of Year - or Open Farm Sunday - should let their local NFU Mutual agent know that they are hosting an event and follow NFU Mutual’s farm visit checklist ( www.nfumutual.co.uk/local-offices/index.htm ).
Specialist Schools and Academy Trust (SSAT) –The Year of Food and Farming School Challenge award scheme is open to all schools in England who are being asked to organise a project, or projects, responding to one or more of the aims of the Year of Food and Farming. Schools must register their projects by the extended deadline of 31st December 2007. To register a project please download an application form from www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk by clicking on specialism and then rural. Alternatively email rural@ssatrust.org.uk to request an application form.
Into the Hive - to celebrate the UK release of the film Bee Movie on 14 December, DreamWorks has teamed up with the Royal Entomological Society to produce an interactive game for primary schools. Featuring characters from the film and great facts about bees devised by insect scientists, ‘Into the Hive’ covers the Key Stage 1 and 2 curriculum areas of Science, Citizenship and Art and Design and can also be played outside as part of outdoor learning initiatives. The game is supported by the Year of Food and Farming and Growing Schools. To order your copy of the game call 01423 567111 and visit www.royensoc.co.uk for further details.
RSPCA have produced five new exciting GCSE Science farming resources that explore the impact of farming on farm animal welfare. Students can learn about where food comes from, the use of labeling, and how they as consumers, can make a difference to farm animal welfare. For details visit www.rspca.org.uk
Food for Life Partnership - All schools in England are invited to enroll with the Food for Life Partnership and work towards Bronze, Silver and Gold Marks for good food culture. The first Marks will be awarded in April 2008 - schools that enroll now will have the chance to be the first to receive awards! 6 out of 20 Flagship Schools in each region have now been selected. But don't worry, you haven't missed out completely - a remaining 14 Flagship Schools in each region still need to be selected! The deadline for schools in the South West, West Midlands and North East to apply is 14 January 2008. Other regions to follow later in 2008.
Go to www.foodforlife.org.uk for more details.
Farmhouse Breakfast Week (20-26 January 2008), organised by the Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), is an ideal opportunity for schools to organise breakfast events, to highlight the importance of a healthy breakfast as part of a balanced diet and active lifestyle. With a new theme this year ‘A Great Start!’, the Breakfast Games, an educational activity that links breakfast to exercise helps to demonstrate how easy and important it is to give your body a winning start to the day! A teacher's pack is available to download - which provides a range of fun activities. For further information about how to get involved and to order free promotional materials for your event please go to www.farmhousebreakfast.com
The Horticultural Development Council has published a website which aims to promote seasonal fruit and vegetables – www.iminseason.com. The HDC is a levy body representing UK growers so is non-branded. The resources, which have been written by freelance dietitians, include photos of all UK produce and recipes.
The Food – a fact of life online resources (Module 1) have been updated to reflect the recent changes to the UK healthy eating model, now called ‘The eatwell plate’. Information about healthy eating in worksheets, PowerPoint presentations and teachers’ guides is now in line with the new healthy eating model. The interactive activities are currently undergoing a face lift and will be available with their new look, soon. If you haven’t looked at the healthy eating resources for a while, now is a great chance to remind yourself what’s available at www.foodafactoflife.org.uk.
Let’s Get Cooking is a 5 year programme to establish a national network of 5,000 cooking clubs across England, giving children, non-cooking parents and the wider community the skills, confidence and enthusiasm to cook healthy meals from scratch. The programme is led by the School Food Trust in partnership with The Prince’s Trust, Business in the Community, Magic Outcomes, Improvement Foundation, British Nutrition Foundation and the Royal Society for Health. Schools invited to apply to join will receive training, support, funding and resources to help get them started. Local adult volunteers will be trained up to demonstrate recipes and, each term, the clubs will receive new resource packs, containing recipes and fun activity ideas. For more information or to register your interest visit www.letsgetcooking.org.uk
Grow Your Own Potatoes 2008 is a unique project, developed for primary schools by the British Potato Council (BPC). Some 3,000 primary schools have already registered to take part, but it’s not too late if you haven’t signed up yet! It’s completely FREE to do so and registration is simple; schools just need to complete the form on the BPC’s dedicated website www.potatoesforschools.org.uk . The BPC will provide each school with a growing kit, containing potato seeds, planting advice and a £5 garden centre voucher to purchase a container and compost. Registrations received before the end of December 2007 will be entered into a Grand Prize Draw for the opportunity to win £50 of Garden Centre vouchers.
If you have any further enquiries about NFYFC, please e-mail post@nfyfc.org.uk
