Involving Your Cook in the High 5 Programme

Involving your cook is one of the key principles of the High 5 programme. This is because there is no better way to learn about food than to eat it!

Linking classroom learning with school meals is the main thrust of the Scottish Government’s ‘Better Eating, Better Learning’ document launched in 2014. Most head cooks have already participated in a workshop on this.

Your cook can support your High 5 programme by:

• Food preparation for pupils to taste/eat
• Speaking with the pupils about school meals

We are happy to fund any of the activities outlined in the previous list. Your school will not see any money, but the costs incurred by catering services will be covered.

You will need to contact your cook as soon as possible to arrange a mutually convenient date, for the cook to support each of the programmes within your school. School catering staff are part time and often very busy, late morning in particular.

Food preparation will typically be fruit and/or vegetables, but, if you request and agree it with your cook, it could be any food that reinforces the messages delivered in your High 5 programme. Note that there is a ‘Fish Lesson Plan‘ for P3/4 pupils that will almost certainly need your cook to be involved.

Speaking with pupils can help the cook find out more about pupils attitudes to school meals. It can also help promote school meals to pupils who currently do not take one.

The consumption of food in one of the sessions could be in the form of:

• A tasting session to enhance specific messages within the programme
• A ‘High 5 Party’ or celebration for pupils

If you are holding a High 5 party, this could be:

• Specifically with pupils and part of your 8th and final session. Alternatively it could be shortly after the eight sessions have been completed.
•  After school with parents invited, giving them an opportunity to find out more about what their children have learnt. You could arrange an event especially, or could be part of an open day or parents evening that you already have planned.

We are budgeting for:

• One hour per class for the cook (covering food preparation and or discussion with pupils)
• £1 of food per pupil (typically, but not exclusively for fruit)