Cooking up a healthy life

8:46am Friday 14th March 2008

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Thousands of parents have heeded Jamie Oliver's advice in an attempt to encourage their children to eat healthy food, but from September there will be an even bigger helping hand from schools.

When secondary school pupils return for the new term they will be able to spend part of their week cooking, and learning about, nutritious meals, under the Government's Food in Schools programme.Schools will build or modernise food technology facilities so every 11 to 14-year-old can benefit from cooking lessons in modern kitchens.Some Hertsmere schools are already taking steps to encourage children to eat more healthily.Chef Andrew Walker, from Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree, said: "To get children to eat healthily you have to start by making them interested in food. "Anything that gets children interested in the joy and creativity of cooking has to be a good thing."He said cooking lessons should focus on showing pupils how food can be fun and creative: "The teaching of food should reflect a balanced diet."They should use all the elements - protein, fresh fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates, dairy products. They need to understand the way each of them fits into a balanced diet. Nothing should be left out."Hertswood School, in Cowley Hill, offers students nutrition and cooking classes, with pupils taught how to prepare fruit salads, pasta and pizza using cheap and fresh ingredients, while being aware of each food's nutritional value and its place in a balanced diet.Lynn Tamswell, head of design and technology, said: "Children really enjoy it. "We teach it as a compulsory subject to Key Stage 3 pupils and it's optional at Key Stage 4, but we have a lot of students taking it up, as many boys as girls. Both sexes enjoy it very much."Ms Tamswell thinks children aged 11 to 14 are at the right age to start thinking about health-related issues. She said cooking or food technology classes are a positive step to encouraging students to think about their lifestyles and develop their individual skills. The school also offers adult cooking classes in the evenings to encourage parents to support their children in having healthier lifestyles.Launching the project last January, Secretary of State for Children, School and Families, Ed Balls, said: "It must be a thing of the past that young people, especially boys, can leave secondary school never having had a basic cooking lesson.He said: "Simple cooking is a fundamental skill every young person should master - it is at the heart of tackling obesity and will enable future generations to understand food, diet and nutrition, and put together healthy meals for their entire lives."Once lessons become compulsory, the Government will put up an additional £2.5 million to cover the cost of cooking ingredients for less well-off pupils who are already entitled to free school meals.In the meantime, Ms Tamswell said, there is little funding to back up the programme: "Usually we ask children to bring in ingredients to design their own food. "If there are any difficulties in providing the ingredients, we will do that for them. Everybody should be involved."

Anything that gets children interested in the creativity of cooking has to be a good thing

Chef Andrew Walker