A successful primary school project developed by Scottish herb grower and supplier Scotherbs has received backing from Tesco.
The Scotherbs primary school herb project, now in its second year, was given to 20 schools in Dundee and Perthshire in April 2008 and due to its initial success, it will be sent out to around 100 primary schools following this Easter break.
The pack has been developed in accordance with both the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence and Health Promoting Schools guidelines, to give children the opportunity to explore the fascinating and delicious world of culinary herbs using a variety of mediums.
It contains everything a school will require to carry out a project on herbs, including materials and seeds for planting a basic herb garden with seven varieties of herbs. Schools are also provided with worksheets, recipes, nutritional information and activity suggestions, as well as specially commissioned herb ‘snap’ cards for children to enjoy.
The project has been specifically designed to be easily adapted by teaching staff to suit various learning methods and stages as per the individual needs of each school.
Laura Paterson, co-ordinator of the project for Scotherbs, said: “We initially limited distribution of the pack to 20 schools in 2008 to see what kind of response would be received from teachers and pupils. We had such an amazing amount of positive feedback from this first run, which encouraged us to invite Tesco to come on board, and we are delighted that they have.”
Lynne Roxburgh, Scottish marketing manager for Tesco, said: “Children will learn a lot more about food and flavours by combining classroom teaching with hands-on experience of growing and cultivating their own herbs.
“The Scotherbs primary school project is an excellent example of this, providing schools with everything they need, from the seeds themselves to the worksheets and inspirational ideas aimed at encouraging children to learn more about herbs and take an interest in the food they eat.
“Many of the schools who took part last year told us what a great little project it is for the summer term as it is an unusual topic involving some outdoor activity. From Scotherbs’ point of view, it’s exactly the right time for sowing herbs in the Scottish climate and schools should begin to see the fruits of their labour prior to breaking up for the summer holiday.”
