Food Growing Schools London teams up with other organisations and councils in boroughs across London to get more schools engaged in growing.
October’s food growing forum held after school hours and hosted at St Andrew’s (Barnsbury) Primary School was a great success. 16 teachers from across Camden and Islington participated in the informative and inspiring session by sharing tips and resources from their food growing journey and initiatives.
Nick Ives, Engagement Officer for Food Growing Schools London (FGSL) writes:
“One of the best things about my role is working with fellow food growing enthusiasts – Marjon Willers, a Specialist Dietitian from the School Improvement Service of Islington is certainly one of those! We connected in the summer term and agreed to hold some food growing forums for teachers after school in the Autumn and Spring terms. Marjon agreed to find a host school and invite participants, my colleague Lisa Grant and I agreed to facilitate the session.
Our hosts Jacqui and King, from St Andrew’s (Barnsbury) Primary School generously welcomed 16 teachers and ourselves for the after school session which lasted an hour and a half.
To make best use of time we structured the session into four phases and encouraged constructive dialogue throughout:
- a brief introduction from each participant and an expression of what they wanted to get out of the session
- a demonstration from Lisa of the key features of the redesigned FGSL website
- a tour from King and Jacqui of the school growing spaces
- brief plenary to pull ideas together and agree some actions.
Some participants were new to growing, others more experienced. We had plenty of useful discussions, in which we shared relevant experiences and ideas, as well as sign posting to helpful resources and expertise. Some hoped to find out what to grow through the winter, others wanted to know how to make the best use of limited concrete growing spaces. As facilitators we made sure that every participant had a chance to get their questions addressed.
We encouraged everyone to keep in contact with us at Food Growing Schools: London – firstly to let us know what further support we can offer via our online survey and secondly to sign up for our regular FGSL Newsletter. We look forward to all meeting up again in the spring to share our growing stories some more.
Feedback
This is what participants were kind enough to say about our forum:
- ‘Well organized, informal and practical. Plenty of ideas to take forward’
- ‘I have lots of cross curricular ideas now. More ideas for how to involve children in gardening’
- ‘Found out what to plant in Winter’
- ‘It’s great to see how another school is using its space and what they are growing’
Get in touch
Would schools in your borough benefit from a session of sharing and discussion like this one? Find out more, get involved and organise a session in your borough, simply email or call 02476217747.