Llandeilo Primary School tackles food waste with scheme

Llandeilo Primary School initiated the 'Bocs Bwyd Llandeilo' community project, capitalising on the rollout of the Welsh Government’s Universal Primary Free School Meals and the Curriculum for Wales.

The project aims to cultivate healthy habits in pupils and fight food waste by collecting surplus food from local businesses and community donations.

The collected produce is used in the school's cooking lessons, removing the need for families to purchase ingredients.

"Our aim within the kitchen and during our cookery sessions is to develop our pupils and our wider communities' Food Literacy," said Lynne Williams, who leads the cookery initiative.

"We provide the opportunities for pupils to plant, learn about, grow, harvest, and then cook the foods they grow," she continued.

Pupils use the ingredients in cookery sessions (Image: Llandeilo Primary School)

The scheme also offers the harvested produce to families, supporting a wider drive to reduce food waste.

The Universal Primary Free School Meals programme was launched in September 2022, serving more than 15 million meals to date.

By 2024, the programme will reach all primary school children and more than 6,000 nursery aged pupils.

The initiative has been pivotal to establishing a healthy, nutritious lunch culture at Llandeilo, notably for families who had been providing packed lunches.

A Year 5 pupil said: “I like the menus because then we know what is for dinner every day. We get all the different food groups and different things to fuel us.”

Karen Towns, Llandeilo’s headteacher, shared how they embraced this opportunity to promote free school meals to their community.

The school put various measures in place to address concerns surrounding the free meals scheme, including conducting tasting sessions, establishing a 'Nurture Base' for children who prefer a quieter space during lunch, and facilitating meetings between parents and catering staff to address menu worries.

"Through developing Bocs Bwyd Llandeilo, our school allotment (Y Nyth) and school kitchen (Y Cegin), we have a deeper understanding of and connections with our families within the school," she said.

"Families feel cared for and important, and appreciate their wellbeing and personal circumstances being supported."

The school runs an on-site allotment where children participate in growing and harvesting vegetables for the cooking lessons, which are held across all year groups in the school's new 'Bake Off' style kitchen.

This approach to fostering relationships has increased the uptake of Universal Primary Free School Meals at the school.

Looking ahead, the school aims to perpetuate their efforts in fostering healthy habits in their community through food education and promoting the free school meal scheme.