The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts’ Adopt a School Trust is a national charity that teaches children about food in a holistic sense: where it comes from, how to cook it, why we need it and its impact on us and the environment.
Professional Chefs and Restaurant Managers deliver sessions in the classroom and on farms which range in content from a Taste and Sensory session to Food Preparation, Cookery and Service. Food education crosses all boundaries of the curriculum from numeracy and literacy to history and politics.
The charity reaches over 20,000 children every year and works with primary schools, secondary schools, SEN schools, hospital schools, pupil referral units, sports centres, school cooks and catering companies and demonstrate at food festivals.
We believe that every child should be taught about the importance of food and the significance it has in our lives. For a truly beneficial experience we don’t think you can beat young people growing and preparing their own food and then sitting down to eat it together.
Adopt a School was founded in 1990, by the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts. The Academy is a membership organisation of the country’s finest professional chefs and restaurant managers and they make up our volunteer army. They cover schools across the country and support the charity’s staff team.
In addition to the daily routine of taking food education into schools, we also run a series of training programmes to equip our volunteer teachers (chefs, farmers, teachers, school cooks etc.) to learn about the basics of the programme and school protocols. Training is tailored to suit the needs of the trainees and can be achieved in a day or more.