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Healthy Packed Lunch Plot Competition Winners Announced.
The Healthy Packed Lunch Plot Competition was open to all primary and special schools in Essex. Pupils were encouraged to design a kitchen garden plot and create a recipe for a healthy packed lunch using its produce
- The competition was sponsored by Augustine Courtauld Trust Perrywood Garden Centre, Kings Seeds, and Royal Horticultural Society.
- This year’s winner of the primary school category age 4-7 years was Scarlett, 7, with her design ‘Minion salad’ from St Helen’s Junior School in Brentwood. The winner for category age 8-11 years was Grace, 10, with her design ‘Crop Pop’ from Friars Grove Primary School in Colchester. The runners up for each category were Harry, 6, from Fingringhoe Primary School with ‘Harry’s Delicious Lunch’ and Emmy, 8, from Danbury Park Community Primary School with her design ‘Pye’s Perfect Pack Lunch’
- The winner of the special school Category was Terrie, 14, with her design ‘Traffic Light Salad’ from The Endeavour Co-operative Academy. The runner up was Caitlin, 12, with her design ‘Chicken Kebab & Salad’ from Cedar Hall School in Benfleet.
The Growing Communities project is managed by the Rural Community Council of Essex (RCCE). The project encourages young people to eat healthily, understand and learn about food provenance whilst capturing their imaginations. It helps assist with creating links between generations, enabling shared knowledge and promotes working with communities.
All primary and special schools in Essex are invited to take part in the competition which encourages pupils to get creative in the garden and healthy in the kitchen.
To enter the competition, pupils are asked to design a kitchen garden plot which could be easily grown at school or at home. They then imagined what a delicious healthy packed lunch could look like if it was made using the produce from the plot plus some additional ingredients such as pasta, couscous and rice.
With mouth watering entries coming in from across the county, the judges (Nicholas Charrington, RCCE Chairman, Hannah Powell, Perrywood Garden Centre and Andrew Tokely, King Seeds) had the difficult task of selecting the overall winners.
From sweet fruity creations to scrummy savory dishes, all the entries showcased the children’s green-fingered aspirations and culinary creativity. Judges were particularly looking for an easy to prepare lunchbox dish which was healthy and included a variety of different produce.
The winners will each receive £500 worth of plants & gardening equipment from Perrywood Garden Centre - Tiptree for their school. Each winning design will be re-created in a garden at the school with RCCE, Alison Findlay from Royal Horticultural Society and Hannah Powell from Perrywood Garden Centre.
Special school, The Endeavour Co-operative Academy, was also victorious in the competition thanks to the fantastic creation of entrant Terrie, 12. The school will also receive £500 worth of plants & gardening equipment from Perrywood, and Terrie’s winning design will be created with RCCE and Alison Findlay from the Royal Horticultural Society.
Runners up prizes of £150 towards school plants & gardening equipment were also up for grabs. The lucky winners of these prizes for primary schools were Harry age 6 from Fingringhoe Primary School in Colchester Emmy age 8 from Danbury Park Community Primary School in Danbury. For special schools Caitlin age 12, from Cedar Hall School in Benfleet, was the crowned runner up.
School Comments:
School Teacher Patrick Creedon, The Endeavour Co-operative Academy – Special Schools Winner upon hearing the news “That is amazing news and I am a bit stunned to hear it!”
Head Teacher John Chadwick “We were delighted to enter the competition and it is always nice to win, but it was also a positive experience for our pupils to enter the competition and having the opportunity and excitement of participation. The pupils enjoyed creating their designs and the rules regarding the designs helped the pupils to think & work in a practical, real-life way, which is a skill that we encourage at The Endeavour Co-operative Academy”. We introduced Horticulture here over 2 years ago & this has greatly benefitted the pupils, who, via practical lessons, are able to learn in many ways outside of the classroom”.
Head Teacher Carol Gooding Danbury Park Community School – Runner up
“The children at Danbury Park look forward to the competition each year. Emmy and her friends are keen to start work in our school garden and she is excited to watch the plants grow”
Judges’ Comments:
Nicholas Charrington, RCCE Chairman comments: “On behalf of the RCCE I was delighted to be part of the judges panel this year. The competition is a fun innovative way of encouraging children to think about what they eat and try new healthier options. The very best entrants demonstrated a clear understanding of the brief, as well as a willingness to let their imagination run wild. All the judges left feeling hungry - inspired by the recipes and descriptions of the packed lunches. Well done to all the entrants!”
Hannah Powell, Communications and HR Manager at Perrywood comments: "It's was inspiring to see these examples of children getting creative and considering all sorts of vegetable plots in which to grow a healthy lunch. Growing your own food is good fun and they've shown it can be done in a very small space, such as the 1m x 1m plots they designed, or even more simply on a windowsill - all you need is a packet of seeds and a recycled pot with compost in. I encourage all children to have a go at growing some of their own food!"
Fellow seasoned judge from King Seeds Horticultural Director Andrew Tokely commented: This year there were a lot of very good entries , making judging very difficult . The winners all showed creative flair , were practical to grow within a 1meter plot and the recipes were also achievable.