Healthy eating on the menu during Duchess of York visit
Healthy eating was on the menu when the Duchess of York visited pupils at Padiham Green C of E Primary School.
Headteacher Lisa Tyrer invited the Duchess, Sarah Ferguson, to spend time at the school’s breakfast club, serving some very excited children their meal and talking to them about school.
She watched performances from the school choir and dance team, and joined the children around the campfire at their Forest School area, finding out about outdoor learning and growing vegetables.
The Forest School boasts an orchard, outdoor classroom, mud kitchen, bird hides, minibeast area, trim trail, relaxing hammocks, and swings.
The Duchess also heard about the work of Padiham GP Dr James Fleming, a former winner of GP of the Year, who started the 'Fresh Food Initiative' to encourage children to eat organically. Pupils grow their own fresh food and have developed their school grounds to create a beautiful, wildlife-rich environment, taking home vegetables that they have grown from scratch.
Mrs Tyrer said: "It was an honour to show the Duchess of York around Padiham Green. It was wonderful for her to come to our school to see some of the amazing things that we have been doing. We are very fortunate with our vast and varied school grounds, which we use to teach our pupils confidence, knowledge and an appreciation of the world in which they live.
"During the past 12 months, we have worked with the Growing Minds Project to develop a planting and harvesting calendar, including onions, beans, peas, radishes, beetroot and pumpkins which they take home with them, cook at forest school and enjoy during the school day.
"Following this year’s successful growing season, next year we aim to create our own wildflower meadow to attract bees, butterflies and other wildlife into our Forest School setting.
"It is a beautiful environment and is something that the children, teachers and community are very proud of, not least because it has taken a lot of dedication and hard work from a lot of people to get it like this.
"It is important to us that our children know where their food comes from. We want to give our children the best possible start in life through food and health education and support with mental wellbeing.
"Our dream at Padiham Green is to eventually have our own nursery and family support hub. Having a nursery of our own would enable us to start to work with our families even earlier, allowing us to provide regular events and provide information, advice and support around many topics including health and food education.
"Ultimately, we would love to see free breakfast clubs and school meals for all nursery and primary aged children, not just low-income families. To know that every child has the option of a warm meal every single day is really important."
Clayton, aged 11, said: "She was a really nice person with a really big heart, full of kindness."
Noah, aged 8, added: "I was excited to meet Prince William’s auntie."
Arwen, aged 10, said: "I think it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, she was lovely. When I gave her the flowers, she was so grateful. She was great and I loved it."