Welcoming Washingborough Academy as our first ambassador school.

To mark our 5th anniversary, we want to celebrate what’s core to our work: the schools and nurseries delivering food education to their pupils!

We have five schools that have been particularly instrumental in promoting TastEd and showcasing the amazing impact it’s had on their pupils.

Our first ambassador school is close to our hearts and truly how we came to be. Washingborough Academy is a very special school just outside of Lincoln renowned for its food education.

At Washingborough, TastEd sessions delivered regularly, enabling children to try all kinds of new vegetables and fruits and experience them with all of their senses. Their gardens, raised beds, Lincolnshire heritage orchard and apiary also engage children with growing, issues around sustainability and the importance of sourcing local food. This commitment to good food doesn’t end at the classroom or gardens. Each Wednesday in the Snack Shack a group of children make a healthy snack that they sell at break time, and their school lunches are largely sourced locally. When the TastEd team visited, we were lucky enough to try some traditional Lincolnshire sausages, made by a farmer known personally to Washingborough head, Jason, and the school.

Washingborough Academy is a wonderful example of what can be done on a state-school budget, with a lot of work and an amazing vision. This dedication to food spills into all areas of the school – you walk around, and children are calm and greet you with a wave and a smile.

These wonderful children, teachers and learning support staff have been the guinea pigs for TastEd since day dot – testing out our lesson plans and giving the necessary feedback to ready them for national roll out.

And so, we’re hugely happy to celebrate this relationship and name Washingborough as our first ambassador school. Here’s to many more years of working together to improve food education in the UK! And special thanks to Natoora for supplying them with a load of delicious seasonal veggies and fruits to explore with all of their senses.