“Food for Thought

An award-winning hub is helping Hackney pupils
discover the joy of growing and making tasty meals

SET in the heart of a small, urban primary school in Hackney is a scene as beautiful as it is inspiring.

An orchard bears figs, peaches and damsons. Climbers swing heavy with grapes, broad beans and courgettes. Honey bees buzz from their hives, busying themselves among the wildflowers. Chickens pootle in their run. And schoolchildren chatter in their outdoor dining area, enjoying the produce they’ve grown, cooked and prepared from scratch.

It’s a bucolic Shangri-La which, once upon a time, was an area of a muddy, underused playground at Mandeville Primary School, Homerton.”