Last week I went to visit one of the lucky schools that was chosen for our Eat Smart Sheffield Small Grant to see how they had spent the money. Hillsborough Primary School applied for our grant to spend money on cooking equipment so that they were able to facilitate cooking sessions for all 400+ pupils at their school.

The cooking session I visited had a focus on celebrating Eid and was the first cooking session the school had run. It was incredibly successful with all the children in the class I visited fully engaged and having fun.

Two of the classes I visited were using one of the multicooker pans, bought with the grant money, to cook the chapatis that they had made. They took turns in small groups to make the dough and roll it out thin enough to be cooked. Doing this also allowed some of the pupils to try new things as a spicy sauce had been provided to eat with the chapatis.

Another class made orange and lemon biscuits. Again, they were in small groups which allowed for each pupil to mix and roll out the dough. Cookie cutters were then used to cut the dough into the shape of the moon.

Cooking sessions can be a fun and engaging way for students to learn about nutrition, food preparation, and even teamwork. It was really rewarding to visit Hillsborough Primary School and see how the grant money has really benefitted them.

By Amy Williamson, Eat Smart Sheffield