The ASSET Arrows
The ASSET Arrows
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These are some of the ASSET Arrows, our pupil parliament, receiving their Jamie Oliver School Food Heroes award live on This Morning in Summer 2025, recognising their work on our child-led Food Project.
ASSET Nourish and our whole movement around food started when we asked the ASSET Arrows whether it was fair that adults choose what children eat. We debated this on two separate occasions, and our Arrows made it clear that children want the agency to choose, but that they can only do that if adults step up and provide a good food education and offer good quality, nutritious lunches.
Read all about the incredible food project that laid the foundations for our work...
We started the Food Project in Autumn 2024 with a visit to Stowmarket's food museum to learn where our food came from. Two children from each of our 15 schools are nominated each year to represent their school community and become ASSET Arrows.
These 30 Arrows used the time after the Food Museum visit to plan a Food Summit in November 2024 at the Hope Centre in Ipswich. They invited a bigger youth council group from each of their schools so on the day we had around 200 children. The Arrows led activities, made speeches about what was important to them about food and the environment, and challenged each school group to go away and take £500 in grant funding from Ormiston Trust to consider the barriers children experience around eating in a healthy and sustainable way, and to find a solution.
It wasn't just about food - at lunchtime we gathered up all of the rubbish generated by 200 packed lunches - it filled the stage at the Hope Centre!
The ASSET Arrows led the Food Summit, designing activities for their peers to help them reflect on the challenges in changing the way we did lunchtimes
School councils from each school worked together to consider the challenges we face in eating healthily and sustainably, and how these could be overcome
While all of the school councils took their challenges back to school and worked on solutions, the Arrows were still busy. They worked with Spring Agency in Southwold to design the Lunch Hub and ASSET Nourish logo and branding. They also canvassed school communities for their favourite recipes, turning them into an amazing ASSET recipe book representing the breadth and diversity of the meals that we love. They also prepared for the Food Showcase in July - working with their councils to present back their work.
ASSET Arrows Recipe Book.pdfThe ASSET Recipe book - favourites from across each of our schools. These recipes appeared in the very first Lunch Hub menus!
Working with Andrea and Char from Spring Agency on logo and branding design, and the design of recipe books
Back in our schools, the councils were working on allotments, running taste tests and creating recipe books of their own!
At the end of the year we all came back together for the Food Showcase, joined by parents, governors and supporters from a range of charities and organisations. Each school council shared their work, and their learning, and we celebrated our Jamie Oliver Award! It was exciting to share that we were bringing our school dinner service in house to ensure that what happened in our kitchens and dining rooms matched what children want.
We are so proud of the award the Arrows received from Jamie Oliver to recognise their work on school food
School councils brought in some awesome displays to showcase the work they had done back in school on their food challenges
The Arrows and school council groups presented to each other, making a stunning close to our incredible project
We were very grateful to be supported by Ormiston Trust, who funded this project, and supported us as cheerleaders throughout. We are also grateful to the Food Museum, and to Clare and Mica at Public Health Suffolk, who gave us lots of info and support throughout.
Hungry for more on our incredible project?
'I was really inspired by them' – Joe Swash meets Ipswich's school food champions
Jamie Oliver School Food Hero Award
What's for lunch? The pupils redesigning school meals their way
The ASSET Arrows on This Morning
DIG_250701_GSFA Celebs Montage ASSET ARROWS_16x9_PR_V4.mp4Well done the Arrows!
Joe Swash at The Oaks.mp4Joe Swash catches up with the Arrows
An incredible acheivement, by the young leaders of the future!
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