Prince of Wales backs the school food revolution

On Monday 1 December, the Prince of Wales, who has long spoken about the importance of educating young people about where their food comes from, will show his support for the movement at a ceremony in London. Jeanette Orrey, Food for Life Partnership School Meals Advisor and the school cook who inspired Jamie Oliver's School Dinners campaign, says: "We campaigned for better school dinners, but it's not just about school meals anymore, it's also about practical food education like learning to cook, growing food and visiting farms to learn where food actually comes from. This is what we, at the Food for Life Partnership, work with schools across England to achieve. "We are here to celebrate six schools achieving the Food for Life Partnership Silver Award and 20 schools achieving the Food for Life Partnership Bronze Award, which is absolutely fantastic. This shows what can be done in just a year when schools and school meals staff work together." The increase in children opting for school dinners in the award-winning schools is hugely encouraging, with an average increase of 16%. Emma Noble, Director of the Food for Life Partnership says: "These first Food for Life Partnership Award-winning schools show that it is possible to transform school food culture and to increase school meal take-up at the same time when young people's views are listened to and school meal changes are supported by practical food education like learning to cook, growing food and visiting farms to learn where food actually comes from." The Food for Life Partnership's ambitious goal is to have 3,600 schools enrolled by 2011 and, through our work with these schools and their communities, improve the well-being of 150,000 people, helping them to understand where food comes from and take control of their food lives.