Taking steps towards healthy eating at Step by Step Pre-school
An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but the staff and parents of children attending Step by Step Pre-school have bigger ambitions. The pre-school, located in Billericay, Essex, is hard at work to actively teach and practise healthy eating with all of the school’s young pupils. But its kitchen was proving to be a major obstacle.
“It’s a very small space to begin with,” says Lisa Campbell, Chairman of the pre-school, “so we needed something well planned, with full functionality. Instead, what we had was bog standard with problems like exposed brickwork. It was very limiting.”
Step by Step was keen to apply for the Essex County Council Silver Award in Healthy Eating, but first its facilities had to be brought up to the required standards. Despite active fundraising for resources, the project remained stalled after two grants for the kitchen refurbishment fell through.
The stalemate was finally broken by a Ford Britain Trust grant.
From bog standard to bowled over
“A number of the parents with children here at Step by Step are also Ford employees,” Lisa explains. “One of them helped us apply for a Ford Britain Trust grant, and it was then, after a year of being stuck in the planning stage, that things started to happen.”
The Ford Britain Trust was able to help with a grant of £1,000. With that seed money in place, the local council agreed to fund the rest of the project, and over the August 2008 school break, the plastering, painting, and refitting of the kitchen finally began.
The new kitchen was unveiled at the beginning of term in September. “It’s fantastic now. We have a nice, bright white kitchen; new from floor to ceiling,” Lisa says. “The staff is bowled over and very excited about working in this environment.”
Making healthy eating part of a daily plan
Though it’s early days, Lisa is confident that students and their parents, as well as staff, will benefit from the new kitchen. Plans are afoot to introduce the kids, one by one, to the kitchen and actively demonstrate how it works. There are also other projects on the boil, such as holding healthy eating workshops for parents. And of course, Step by Step is now ready to apply for the Essex County Council Silver Award in Healthy Eating.
Says Lisa, “Thanks in large part to the Ford Britain Trust grant, our kitchen has been vastly improved, our Healthy Eating plans are well under way, and we’ve got lots of exciting ideas for the future.”
