Our mission is to ensure that every child enjoys fresh sustainable food at school and understands where their food comes from.

School Food Matters (SFM) is a charity based in London. It was founded in 2007 by a parent perplexed by the school food offered to her two small children; frozen food, unappealing and quite often unidentifiable. She then heard a head teacher declare that children at his primary school couldn't identify an onion, let alone know what to do with it. There was clearly a job to be done.

Over the last eight years SFM's food education programmes have reached tens of thousands of children across London and beyond. With selected partners the charity devises, develops and delivers exciting food education programmes for school children. The charity's quest is to introduce children and their families to the joys of growing, cooking, eating and sharing delicious fresh food so that they learn to make healthier choices, value food more and waste it less.

SFM's approach has always been to work in partnership to develop a programme that can grow and become a firm fixture on the school?s calendar. All programmes will include hands-on cooking and food growing and will often include a visit to a working farm. Partners include Whole Foods Market, Borough Market and school meal caterers, ISS Education.

Many of the programmes invite school children to become young entrepreneurs; growing fruit and vegetables, cooking and developing products to sell through our retail partners. For inspiration the charity calls in the experts. Cooking Ideas and Kitchen Garden Ideas sessions enable high profile chefs and horticulturists such as Tom Aikens, Thomasina Miers and Chris Collins to volunteer in schools and inspire children to develop an interest in growing and cooking fresh food. This work has a profound effect on children?s relationship with food as they begin to master practical life skills that will help to live healthier lives.