Free food and farming education resources will be available to children as they return to school thanks to the AHDB’s education partnership programme with the British Nutrition Foundation.
Originally set up by the foundation over 30 years ago, 'Food – a fact of life now' offers over 2,000 education resources to teachers of students between 3 and 16.
The collaboration combines the nutrition expertise of the foundation with AHDB’s farming expertise to provide resources and training to UK teachers.
Last year, as a result of using the resources, 85% of pupils in the UK were more informed about where food comes from, and 88% of pupils were more informed about healthy eating.
Forming part of AHDB’s strategy to promote the reputation of British agriculture, the levy board has a focus on developing accurate and up to date resources.
Roz Reynolds, head of education at AHDB, said: “With the new school term starting shortly, we hope these free resources will help teachers across the country to provide fun and informative lessons."
In 2021 alone, resources including activity packs, quizzes, lesson plans, presentations and work sheets were downloaded 1.3 million times.
Overall, almost 1,000 educators attended events, workshops, and webinars last year, covering topics such as cheese making and butchery, with 80% using the training to update their own lesson plans.
Regional conferences will be held this year offering teacher training to build confidence in delivering classes on food and farming.
Focusing on providing life skills in nutrition and healthy eating, practical cooking skills and where food comes from, the programme meets UK national curricula.
Amy Bergiers, a teacher at Nantgaredig Primary School said: “What is fantastic is that all the resources are editable, which means that we can add further content to suit teachers’ and pupils’ needs.
"As a primary school in the countryside, what we require for teaching might be different from a city-based school, so there is the flexibility to adapt the content for every classroom regardless of their location."
