Virtual cooking classes showing kids how to make homemade meals from scratch are taking place at one Dundee primary school.
Online workshops, which allow children to log in and cook along in the comfort of their own home, are offered to every pupil at Ardler Primary School.
The project is led by Jane Allen, the school’s family development worker, who buys in all the necessary food, using funds from local charity Dundee Bairns.
Jane, and a few young helpers, then organise the food supplies and basic utensils into bags to send home with school children.
The virtual classes are led in the evening, to encourage family home cooking and socialisation, promote a healthy relationship with food and help reduce food poverty.
Jane said: “The families enjoy it. They like cooking together and it encourages them to do it at other times as well.
“I’ve had families say to me they made the pizza again or they made the curry when they had friends over for dinner.
“It’s teaching them a life skill because if no-one cooks at home then there’s no way to learn the basics – it’s good to be shown these things.”
Jane says she thinks the ease of access to the online cooking workshops is one of its most successful factors and intends to continue with this method of delivery, even when Covid restrictions are reduced.
The idea for the online cooking workshops came about when Ardler Primary School was unable to host in-school Tea Clubs due to practical reasons.
What’s a Tea Club?
Five Dundee primary schools are pioneering family Tea Clubs – an evening take on school breakfast clubs.
Funded by Dundee Bairns, these Tea Clubs offer school children and members of their family a free hot meal twice a week.
The food is supplied by Tayside Contracts, and volunteers for Dundee Bairns collect the hot meals and deliver them to the schools.
Schools taking part in the project, which started at the beginning of this month, are:
- Clepington Primary School
- Dens Road Primary School
- Rosebank Primary School
- Rowantree Primary School
- St Francis Primary School
These Tea Clubs aim to reduce food and fuel poverty, while increasing family socialisation and relationships with school staff.
And many of the participating schools offer them to all of their pupils, regardless of personal situations, to quell stigmatisation around attendance.
Genna Millar, of Dundee Bairns, said: “Some kids who get free school dinners, that really is their only proper meal of the day.
“If we can offer another meal, it makes a huge difference to them, and having it in school means a hour less of heating costs at home.
“Some families have to choose between heating or food, but this way they can have a good meal, without any heating costs.”
Genna added that feedback from schools has been positive for everyone involved, particularly for children with anxiety related to attendance at school.
Alternative cooking classes
Two facilities – Ardler Primary School and Claypotts Primary School – initially wanted to run Tea Clubs but were unable to do so due to practicalities.
Instead they have opted for cooking classes, funded by Dundee Bairns. Claypotts runs a cooking class for children during out-of-school hours but still on the premises.
For more information on Tea Clubs, funded by Dundee Bairns, email dundeebairns@gmail.com
