Welcome to the January issue of the primary newsletter intended especially for teachers and pupils. Please pass on any ideas or information that you find useful to parents and carers too.

Reminder to all registered schools! With the New Year upon us, it would be great to hear your plans for 2008. Share news of your Year of Food and Farming activities with other schools by updating your Space.

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What’s in season in January?

Vegetables: Onions, potatoes, cabbage, swede, carrots, turnips, spinach, leeks, parsnips, shallots, squash, red, white and green cabbage
Fruit and nuts: “End of season” apples, pears and nuts and “forced” rhubarb
Game: Partridge, pheasant, mallard, pigeon, rabbit and hare
Fish: Scallops, brill, John Dory, flounder and cod
Cheese: Cheshire, Borchester, Sharpham and Appleby

What’s happening on the farm?

January is one of the quietest months on the farm but there is still a great deal to do. General farm maintenance which includes buildings, tracks, fences and machinery is undertaken as well as conservation work such as planting, coppicing, and laying of hedges. Any work needed to be carried out in woodland attached to farms must be done before the birds start to nest. Slurry needs to be spread on fields which will be used to produce hay and silage later on in the year.

Crop fields and vegetable beds are prepared for spring planting and fruit trees need pruning. Some sheep farms will be starting to lamb indoors for early spring lamb and all livestock farmers still have to care for their animals, whether inside or out.

For more information on the importance of farming today click on the link to “Resource Bank – Farming Matters” on the home page

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Farmhouse Breakfast Week:

This month we celebrate “Farmhouse Breakfast Week” from the 20th to 26th January. The week aims to encourage us all to start our day with a healthy nutritional breakfast. Our curriculum ideas section for January picks up on this theme. www.farmhousebreakfast.com

Seasonal eating and outdoor fun:

Breakfast in the park :

Breakfast outside in January? Yes definitely! What’s more, January 20 th to 26 th 2008 is Farmhouse Breakfast Week. What better start to a crisp January morning than some fresh air, a fun activity and something delicious, warming and nutritious to eat! And let’s just make this a day for glorying in the outdoors. We don’t need to tangle the children up with clipboards and worksheets and spend the time distracting them from using their senses.

We can take a multi-sensory winter walk with just ourselves and a little seasonal produce. Let’s see what we can do with apples which are still plentiful at this time of year.

Try this for a recipe:

 Ingredients:

  • Take one class of enthusiastic pupils and an enthusiastic teacher.
  • Sprinkle in a few enthusiastic helpers.
  • Add some home-made apple muffins and some organic apple juice from your local farm or farm shop.
  • Mix them altogether in an open outdoor space, preferably one with trees.

 What you need to do:

 Before the day of the breakfast:

  • Plan the aims and objectives of the activity and introduce it properly before the big day (ie “Why are we going?”).
  • Plan your breakfast and prepare the food the day before.

On the day:

  • Heat your apple juice and pour into flasks.
  • Warm muffins, wrap them in aluminium foil and pack in insulated bag/box with hot water bottles to keep them as warm as possible.
  • Wrap everyone up warmly and take some cosy blankets to sit on.
  • Don’t forget some cups and the first aid box.
  • Walk to your nearest park or open green space, breathing in the good fresh air.
  • Use your eyes, ears, nose, hands and feet to explore and enjoy your environment.
  • Tuck into your breakfast and talk about what you can see, hear, smell and now taste. Talk about what it feels like to be outdoors in the open air.
  • Clear away any litter.
  • Return to school with rosy cheeks and smiles on your faces.

Sounds fun doesn’t it? The plan is simply the same across the whole age group. The main objective is enjoyment of the outdoors. All you need to do is differentiate by outcome in what you want your particular pupils to get from their adventure.

Organise the cooking afternoon for the day before. Use this opportunity to introduce the concept of using locally produced, seasonal food. Could you make a class visit to a local farmers’ market or farm shop for the ingredients? If you cannot manage it this time, just try to get to a local greengrocer where you still might find local produce and it will certainly come without cellophane wrapping.

For more information on sourcing your food locally click on the link to “School Food” on the home page

Here is a tasty recipe for apple muffins:

Heat the oven to 200 ° C (180 ° C fan or gas 6)

Mix together in a large bowl:

  • 250g plain flour (try to source this locally)
  • 3 teaspoons (tsp) baking powder
  • A pinch of salt
  • 90g sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

In another bowl:

  • beat 2 eggs (try to source these locally)

then add:

  • 200g (same as 200ml) milk (try to source this locally)*
  • 80g sunflower oil
  • 100g grated apple (try to source this locally)
  • A handful of raisins or sultanas (optional)
  • A handful of sunflower seeds (optional)

* Soya milk works well too

Mix all ingredients together and spoon mixture into muffin tins. If you oil the tins first you won’t need to use paper cases and so you will be less wasteful.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Warmed apple juice:

Try to use organic juice made from local apples bought from a local farmers’ market or farm shop.

Warm the juice slowly in a saucepan. You could add a couple of cloves or a cinnamon stick or small piece of ginger if the children are happy to experiment.

With thanks to Tina Deubert for the recipes.

Tina has run a local Farmers’ Market for four years and has written “The Friendly Vegetable Book” which aims to introduce families to eating more seasonal vegetables on a daily basis.

For more information on sourcing your food locally click on the link to “Growing” on the home page

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The school vegetable garden :

  • Use January to tidy up vegetable plots, collecting all vegetable refuse and putting it onto the compost heap.
  • You can plant out rhubarb if you dig it in deeply and manure the soil well.
  • If you can plant out under glass or in cloches which face south, you could try planting carrots, broad beans, peas, cauliflowers, radishes, asparagus and herbs towards the end of the month.
  • You can plant out onions and potatoes in trays if you can store them in a frost-free, dry shed.

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Curriculum links:

If you structure a programme of learning around the seasonal information, farming–related issues and curriculum activities raised in this edition of the newsletter, you would have the opportunity to visit the following links in programmes of study. Please be aware that you would have to ensure coverage of the links through your own planning.

Geography:
KS1 :1a,b,c,d; 2a,d; 3a; 5a,b;6a;7a.
KS2: 1a,b,c,e; 2a,d,f,g; 3a,b,f, g; 4a; 5a,b;6a;7a.

PSHE:
KS1: 1b,c; 2a,b,c,f,g; 3a,b; 5c,d,e,g;
 KS2: 1a,c,e; 2a,f,j; 3a,b; 5a,c,d,e;

Design and Technology:
KS1: 1a,b,c,d,e; 2a,b,f; 3a,b; 4a; 5a,b,c;
KS2: 1a,b,c,d; 2a,b,f; 3a,c; 4a; 5a,b,c.

English:
KS1: 1a through to f; 2a through to e; 3 a through to e; 8c,d; 9a,b; 10a,b;
KS2: 1 a through to e; 2 a through to e; 3 a through to d; 10 a,b,c.

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School activities and resources

Haworth Primary School (near Bradford) has a School Gardening Club which started 5 years ago. The whole school get involved in harvesting the fresh vegetables for their school dinners. Over the last year peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, runner beans, carrots, leeks, potatoes, brussel sprouts, cabbage and beetroot from the garden have all been served up for lunch. The teachers make full use of the gardens in teaching the curriculum helping the children develop good numeracy skills by weighing pumpkins and measuring sunflowers, whilst learning about healthy eating.

Haresfoot Primary School (Hertfordshire) is getting involved in the Year of Food and Farming by applying the themes of Food and Farming in the teaching of the following curriculum subjects: science, food technology, geography and PSHE. In addition to in-school growing and cooking activities, pupils visited a local organic farm where pupils benefited from real-life experiences on a farm, helping to deliver primary science curriculum targets such as life processes and plants and animals in the local environment.

Farmhouse Breakfast Week 2008( January 20th - 26th 2008) Plans for the ninth annual campaign organised by the Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) are well underway. With the theme 'A Great Start!', HGCA is encouraging everyone to wake up to a balanced breakfast as part of a healthy and active lifestyle and make the most of the fantastic regional produce from around the UK. With breakfast firmly on the menu in January 2008 there is no better time to get involved! Visit www.farmhousebreakfast.com or call 020 7520 3968 to find out more about the nation's most popular breakfast celebration!

The Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) and the Flour Advisory Bureau (FAB) have collaborated to produce a new multimedia educational resource called The Grain Chain. It offers children a fun way to learn about the ‘field to fork’ cycle of how wheat is grown and used to produce breads and cereals plus advice on eating for health and vitality. It also offers visual, up-to-date materials including activity sheets, games and quizzes which cover the key topics of arable farming, milling, baking, cooking and nutrition. Teachers are offered the benefits of interactive whiteboard activities as an additional classroom resource plus a dedicated Teachers section to be found at www.grainchain.com

The new Active Kids Get Cooking Challenge 2008 has been set and details of the challenge have now been sent in to all UK schools in the form of an exciting poster! The multipurpose poster, which includes details of the challenge, takes the form of a calendar and shows which fruit and vegetables are in season each month www.activekidsgetcooking.org.uk

Let’s Get Cooking is a 5 year programme to establish a national network of 5,000 cooking clubs across England, giving children, non-cooking parents and the wider community the skills, confidence and enthusiasm to cook healthy meals from scratch. The programme is led by the School Food Trust in partnership with The Prince’s Trust, Business in the Community, Magic Outcomes, Improvement Foundation, British Nutrition Foundation and the Royal Society for Health. Schools invited to apply to join will receive training, support, funding and resources to help get them started. Local adult volunteers will be trained up to demonstrate recipes and, each term, the clubs will receive new resource packs, containing recipes and fun activity ideas. For more information or to register your interest visit www.letsgetcooking.org.uk

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Did you know?

  • The Apollo 11 astronauts were given “cereal cubes” in space. Lack of gravity would have prevented them from pouring either cereal or milk into a bowl so the cereal and fruit were pressed together in cubes.
  • Over a third of all the bananas eaten in Great Britain are eaten at breakfast.
  • The average home in Britain tends to have between four to six boxes of different cereal in the kitchen cupboard.

Sources:

Seasonal produce: www.caterersearch.comwww.bbc.co.uk/foodwww.sustainable.woodcraft.org.uk
Seasonal farming activities: Various websites and sources including: www.farmingfriends.com
www.farm-direct.co.ukwww.chilternsaonb.orgwww.goldhillorganicfarm.co.uk
School garden: www.ba-education.demon.co.uk
Facts: www.americancerealcouncil.orgwww.raisingkids.co.uk

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