Baking with school children: East Sheen Primary School

One of the charitable activities of Virtuousbread.com is baking with primary school children.  Get 'em while they are young.  Children are impressionable.  Children can be fussy.  Many parents believe their children will only eat white sliced bread out of a bag.  Yawn.  Children, in our experience, will eat anything they prepare themselves.  A child who makes a whole meal bun that has his or her initials carved into it before baking will snatch that bun off the baking tray and cram it into his or her mouth without butter, jam, or golden syrup.  Unless the adults in their world feed them white sliced from a bag again, they will never go back.

Virtuousbread.com was fortunate enough to meet a governor, and then the deputy head teacher of the East Sheen Primary School.  The school is great:  they have an allotment that the children tend.  They cook with the produce in the canteen.  They have chickens.  They visit farms.  They have Fab Fridays in which no formal lessons are held and the children learn through other kinds of activities:  dance, drama, music, sport, and cooking.

In the fantastic brand new kitchen, Virtuousbread.com will be teaching baking once a month.  The idea is that the children learn all about bread:  farming, milling and baking.  They bake their own bread and, while it's rising, we will make soup together, or maybe jam - whatever takes our fancy on the day as long as it complements the bread.  We will bake, eat, hang, and generally have a great time, and learn about good bread. 

We will be writing up our experiences on the blog so please follow us.

4 Responses to “Baking with school children: East Sheen Primary School”

  1. Nimarta

    02. Dec, 2010

    This is a really good idea! I really think virtuous bread should teach or bake once a month at the senior centers. Is this program only in the UK? Because if not, I know of a senior center in US, but they have no ovens.

  2. virtuousbread

    15. Dec, 2010

    Hi there, sorry for the late reply...I am looking at senior centres even as I type! Currently Virtuousbread.com is only in the UK but our mission is to inspire people all over the world so if you know someone who would be up for baking in a seniors' centre - please inspire them to do so. It will make such a difference. Older people have a need to creat and contribute as much as anyone and as much as they used to when they were younger. We need to give them opportunities to do so. Thank you for your comment.

  3. Janet

    26. Mar, 2011

    This sounds like a great idea. However I am curious to know if this is voluntary work or whether you charge the schools for your service

  4. virtuousbread

    27. Mar, 2011

    Hi Janet

    i do both. I teach in the East Sheen Primary School about once a month for a full day and that is done on a voluntary basis. My commitment to them is 12 months and then we will either extend it or I will look for another school. In addition to the school, I teach on a voluntary basis once a month each with a prison and a care home for the elderly and am looking for a shelter. I have a 12 month commitment to all of them. That means 20% of my time is spent doing voluntary work with bread.

    Other schools frequently contact me and I have to explain that I would have to charge them as I have reached my quota of voluntary work! The charge is £350 per day which is about what a supply teacher gets. Some schools cannot afford this, which is a shame, but they do understand that I need to have bread on my table too!

    Kind regards and thank you for your question. Jane

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