FELSTED Preparatory School has received the Soil Association’s Silver Food for Life Award – the first independent school in the south east to do so.

The award is in recognition of the school’s commitment to serving meals made from free range and organic ingredients and served as it would be at home.

Just 82 schools in England have received this award and Felsted Preparatory School is one of only three schools in Essex. To merit the silver award, the school serves meals on plates, rather than flight trays, and ingredients are locally sourced and organic.

All chicken, pork and sausages served are Freedom Food certified or free range and no fish from unsustainable sources is served.

The school also has a cooking club, and pupils cook with and eat the produce grown in the school growing area.

Parents and the wider community are involved in food education at the school too, through food-themed events such as The Big Healthy Breakfast and international days when ethnic foods are on offer.

The school’s catering manager Daphne Murdoch said: “As well as providing healthy, freshly prepared food for the children and making mealtimes a well-mannered time to talk to each other, we also help them to understand about the origins of the food on their plates.

“We use free range eggs, fish for life such as Pollock and pole- and line-caught tuna, and we teach the children how to cook for themselves. These are important habits and skills for life and I’m delighted that our efforts have been recognised with the Silver Food for Life Award.”

Director of the Food for Life Partnership Libby Grundy said: “By empowering the young people to make informed food choices and giving them the skills to grow and cook food for themselves and their families, Felsted Preparatory School leads the way for a more sustainable future.”