Grow Organic - Youth

Aim: Programme workers directly support local food growing, gardening and healthy eating by schools and youth groups, with the aim of helping to reduce the health inequality gap. This builds on our recognised good practice in food growing with children over the last 5 years in Manningham and enables settings throughout Bradford District to access this service. Requests for this service have been constant throughout this time.

We reduce inequalities by:

1) Running weekly school and youth group gardening sessions in areas of most need, growing food and taking part in associated outdoor physical activities. These are held in school grounds or on BCEP community allotment plots. This is a year round programme to share skills in horticulture and the growing of food crops, led by experienced and trained staff and with practical support and appropriate resources.

2) Stimulating interest and responding to requests from schools/young people to offer taster and /or occasional sessions in outdoor food growing and associated physical activities. Taster sessions are an effective method to engage schools and demonstrate to them the value of a gardening club. BCEP and the Cellar Project can offer a complete package to help schools establish year round gardening club facilities.

Prize winning produce from the school garden

3) Provision of fresh organic produce for regular groups to take home, with information on its healthy preparation.

4) Running "Cook and Eat" food tasting sessions using seasonally available produce - grown by the participants when available - and supporting the 5-a-day message. Trained and experienced nutrition education staff will deliver on-site sessions, teaching children to take produce from the ground and prepare it ready for the plate.

Making compost

5) Providing activities at community events promoting growing, taking exercise and healthy eating among children and young people.

Sowing seeds in hotbox6) Providing expert advice training and materials support to establish “Hot Bed” gardening in school settings, extending the growing season and range of crops which can be produced. This is particularly important for schools as they are closed through the summer months. Using Hot Beds, the growing season can be brought forward from March to January. The Cellar Project staff have perfected practical techniques and together with BCEP’s network support shared these traditional skills with 6 Keighley primary schools this winter.

Funding Body: