One of the ways we help put people on a path to a better everyday life is through our education programme. Our programme allows us to provide opportunities for young people and advocate social inclusion, which is exactly what we did in a recent collaboration. We’re a proud supporter of Learning@TheGrange, which is a programme for schools and the local community. This year, three schools took part in their Arts-Education project called Planet Food to examine the impact of food on our environment.

Learning@TheGrange has continued its inspirational collaboration with the WWF to complete this food sustainability project. Planet Food saw Learning@TheGrange’s creative teams and students from their partner Basingstoke schools join together to examine how we produce, eat and often waste our food.

"Most of us might believe it’s our energy or transport choices that cause the most serious environmental damage. In fact, it’s our food system that creates the biggest impact." – Dr Tony Juniper, WWF

The students from Cranbourne School, the Vyne Community School and Everest Academy were surprised to learn over a third of our food is wasted. They discussed how we could improve our eating habits and expressed their thoughts by first writing and then composing music. Each school produced their own original song to represent their opinions. Their songs were filmed and edited and will be shown by WWF at various environmental and educational conferences to highlight the urgent problem.

“It was an amazing day full of fun and everyone was working hard, sharing ideas, singing, writing, switching our creative minds on.” Year 8 Student

Our support for Planet Food has also strengthened numeracy development throughout the schools, which is a core part of our Social Impact programme. Music itself is very mathematical, it includes counting, rhythm, scales, intervals, patterns, symbols, harmonies, time signatures, overtones, tone and pitch. Composing music helps us to improve our motor skills, communication and problem-solving abilities, and has been found to improve memory and empathy.

Encouraging further thinking around food waste and its impact on the environment also demonstrates our Sustainability Strategy and our commitment to meet our ambition of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

You can watch the three thought-provoking and inspiring videos below.

  • Space Age Farming, written and created by 11-12 year-olds at Cranbourne School, was inspired by how we produce our food.
  • So Much More, written and created by 11-14 year-olds at the Vyne Community School, was inspired by what we eat.
  • Love Our Left Overs, written and created by 11-12 year-olds at Everest Community Academy, was inspired by how we waste our food.

 

If these videos inspired you, take a look at another similar project we supported by Learning@TheGrange called Future Visions. These videos focus on climate change and creating a sustainable future.