Last week, Year 5 and 9 pupils from Kingswood School in Bath were visited by local community partnerships, the Genesis Trust and Julian House, as part of the school’s new Life Skills programme. Both charities, along with zero-waste shop, Refillable, delivered engaging talks about food insecurity and waste in the BANES area.
With this in mind, Year 9 were set the challenge of creating a sustainable initiative to combat food waste at Kingswood. Over the afternoon, each group worked meticulously on their ideas and a presentation, before pitching their enterprise to their year group and a panel of judges.
After a nail-biting decision the top three groups were announced:
- Plate Size Choice – allowing those that have a smaller or a larger appetite to be catered for.
- A meal planning app – to assist the catering department with demand for each meal choice throughout the week.
- Composting + Fairtrade products – introducing these methods at the school and also including more Fairtrade produce to support farmers and workers.
The winning groups will present their idea to the School Governors and members of the Senior Management Team at Kingswood. From there it will be decided which enterprise Kingswood will pursue.
The event was extremely insightful and inspiring to all. Year 9 pupil and winner, Ben, said, “I have learnt that food waste is a very serious problem and a problem that needs actioning – fast! We are responsible for what is being wasted and we need to be accountable for that. I am glad we have the opportunity to do something about it.”
Rev Katy Thomas, one of the judges for the project, said, “Well done to all of the pupils that took part and a huge thank you to our guest speakers that joined us.”