Leeds children’s education organisation pledges to deliver 10m hours of food education

The movement is targeting primary schools with its revolutionary food learning programme which has been designed by teachers, for teachers and aims to deliver 10 million hours of food education by 2030. To achieve this ambitious goal, it needs to recruit 7,000 schools to its £200 per year Rethink Food Programme.

Schools can sign up for a free trial atrethinkfood.co.uk.

The Rethink Food concept was established in 2014 by former teachers Nathan Atkinson and Kevin Mackay to tackle the immediate need of reducing food hunger as a barrier to learning.

Since then, ithas evolved its purpose and while its commitment to reducing food waste and redirecting surplus food to benefit families remains; it is this week officially opening its new HQ and launching its new education mission.

The organisation was previously spread over three sites in Leeds with its office in White Rose Centre and its food redistribution hub and warehousing spread across two other sites.

This new Rethink Food Hub accommodates its growing warehouse, office, digital studio and production teams enabling them to work collaboratively under one roof for the first time.

Nathan Atkinson, co-founder of Rethink Food, said:“We need to focus people’s attention on the issue of food education. There is so much more work needed in this area.

"By giving children and young people the tools to understand the importance of healthy eating and physical activity we can make a positive difference to the health and well-being of young people now and in the future.

“Our ambition to deliver 10 million hours of food education into 7,000 schools is not for the faint hearted. We know this is an ambitious target and we’ll have to move mountains to deliver this.

"But we absolutely believe that teaching the next generation about the food lifecycle from seed to plate, sustainably eating, food waste and how we can make better food and lifestyle choices to look after their bodies and the planet means that we can change their future for the better.”

From its new premises, the Rethink Food team is committed to producing fun, engaging education material that is designed by teachers for teachers that will hold childrens' attention and spark their imagination.

It not only helps to upskill teachers in a complex and ever-evolving subject matter, but also empowers students to make the best decisions for their plate and planet and cultivates a lifelong understanding of food, nutrition, and lifestyle choices in young minds.

The industry pioneering teaching material includes lesson plans, short films, downloadable and adaptable content as well as more interactive resources such as the space age growing towers. As part of its launch it is offering schools the opportunity to download free teaching materials, visit www.rethinkfood.co.uk to begin a free trial.

Kevin Mackay, co-founder of Rethink Food, added:“Rethink Food started out in response to an immediate problem and that was, as teachers, we were increasingly seeing hungry kids which directly impacted their ability to focus and manage their own behaviour.

"We now help more than 300 Leeds families andschools each week with access to surplus food to help mitigate the immediate challenge of hunger, but we need to do a lot more.

“There are huge time and resource pressures on schools, but we need teachers and parents to advocate for the health of the future generation and sign their school up to our Rethink Food Programme.

"It’s just £200 per year per school and this gives access to a wealth of curriculum approved learning resources and digital content that inspires children and young people.”

During the past year, Rethink Food has forged a partnership with The Greggs Foundation, the independent grant-making charity associated and supported by Greggs plc. Together they have trialled the delivery of a free education programme called Agents of Change – to teach children about the importance of food security and sustainability via the Greggs Breakfast Club network.

Nathan added: “Children are facing many issues all around the subject of food such as tooth decay, obesity and hunger and we believe the educational material we are creating will empower them to make better choices now and form better life-long, lifestyle habits.”

The Rethink Food team is proud to be a local employer and its 14-strong team are all from Leeds. It is about to embark on a recruitment drive to employ four more school liaison managers and it is working closely with Leeds Trinity University and Filmbuddy to offer placement and apprenticeship opportunities to students in the digital sector.

The team is also bolstered by the generosity of 30 volunteers who all pledge their time each week to ensure the Surplus Food remit of the business works like clockwork. As Rethink Food has grown, several volunteers have moved across to paid, full-time positions as part of the businesses pledge to grow its team organically.

Any corporations inspired to get involved by pledging time, funds, or resources to Rethink Food should get in touch via www.rethinkfood.co.uk.