This design and technology project arose from a school canteen deciding for economic, environmental and nutritional reasons to obtain and use as much local seasonal produce as possible. To this end pupils from Cape Cornwall School were asked to design and make a meal consisting of soup, bread and an apple based dessert. The meal had to meet the nutritional needs of teenagers and fulfil the requirements of the national nutritional standards for lunches in secondary schools.

A visit to the school canteen and an introduction from the canteen supervisor helped set the context (This could also have been supplemented by a talk in the classroom from the County School Meals Service). This provided students with an insight into how the canteen operated but more importantly for this project, it gave them some idea of the restrictions on their design ideas e.g. time, numbers of staff available for making, cost, equipment etc.

The project aimed to:

• give pupils the opportunity to produce solutions that are relevant and connected to their lives;
  
• put an emphasis on personalised learning and understanding a real context tapping into the interest generated by Jamie Oliver’s campaign;
  
• highlight environmental concerns about food production, and the movement of food worldwide;
  
• encourage more pupils to eat in the school canteen, buy local produce and eat more healthily;
  
• develop pupils’ independence – pupils thinking for themselves, making informed choices and generating solutions in a creative way.
  

A talk by local organic farmer was given to the group where they discussed environmental issues regarding food production. Funding to support this was obtained from the Education Business Partnership as it meets the criterion of bringing the workplace into the classroom.

The pupils were clearly motivated by design opportunities presented by the context and using seasonal local vegetables. They developed a better understanding of the environmental, ethical, economic and social issues facing food production and their awareness of where their food comes from. The project allowed for plenty of practical sessions, both working in teams and individually. Parental support was also utilised. Cape Cornwall is a rural school and they were interested in the project because it promoted local industries and businesses. 

A PowerPoint case study describing the project can be found here.