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Why is the Food Standards Agency sponsoring a Cooking Bus? |
The main aim of the Cooking Bus is to reach school children direct to put across healthy eating and food safety messages in an engaging way. The workshops are designed to involve young people, enrich the curriculum and train teachers. The Agency is also giving priority to schools in low income areas, reflecting our commitment to ensure that the Agency's policies take into account the needs and views of disadvantaged groups and our aim of reducing inequalities by enabling and encouraging the disadvantaged and vulnerable to improve their diets.
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How much does it cost to book the Cooking Bus? |
The Cooking Bus is free to schools. It comes fully equipped, including the food needed for the workshops.
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How do I book the Cooking Bus? |
You first need to register with Focus on Food, using the form in the
Catch the Bus section. You will then be sent an application pack that also gives you more information on the Cooking Bus. You will need to explain how your school would use the bus, how the workshops would fit in with National Curriculum activities, and how the school would support the activities of the bus after it has left the school.
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What is the relationship between the Food Standards Agency and Focus on Food? |
The FSA Cooking Bus has been developed in a partnership between the Agency and Focus on Food Campaign to pursue the common objectives of raising food standards, particularly to promote healthy eating and improve food hygiene.
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Is it worth applying if our school is not in a low income area? |
All applications for the Cooking Bus are welcome, whether from primary or secondary, state or independent schools. However, the Food Standards Agency is giving priority to schools in disadvantaged areas for its Cooking Bus. There is another Focus on Food Cooking Bus that does not have this criterion, so by registering with Focus on Food, you will automatically be eligible for this bus as well.
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What is the difference between the two Cooking Buses? |
The same material is taught on the Cooking Buses. Although they look different they are both fully equipped to the same high standard.
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Which teachers do we need to involve? |
This will depend on the particular parts of the curriculum you wish to support. The aim is to support food education in your school and also to help you extend your work through the use of our resources and teaching materials. You will need to provide us with a copy of the school's or department's scheme of work for food or food technology and a copy of your school brochure. We always expect a teacher from the school to work alongside the team on the Cooking Bus, to be responsible for the pupils and their behaviour, and to be involved so they can develop the work after the Cooking Bus has left.
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How many people has the Cooking Bus room for? |
Sixteen pupils can attend a workshop at any one time. We are sorry but, under the terms of the insurance, this number cannot be exceeded.
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Do schools need to supply food? |
No, the bus comes fully equipped with food and equipment, including protective clothing.
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How much space does the Cooking Bus need? |
The Cooking Bus is really an articulated pantechnicon, 2.5 metres wide, 16.5m long and 3.9m high. When opened out it is 8m wide. It needs a minimum gate width of 3m with a good clear entrance and length inside before the vehicle turns. The parking area must be level and have a hard surface capable of bearing the bus's weight, which is about 19 tonnes.
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Do we need to provide power and water? |
The Cooking Bus is self-sufficient so there will be no trailing cables. However, it is useful if the bus can be parked no more than 50 metres away from a water supply in case it needs to fill its tanks.
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Do we need to let the school's insurers know if the cooking bus is visiting us? |
The Cooking Bus is fully insured and will be staffed at all times.
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Can schools work together? Our school is part of a consortium. |
Yes. Schools that are linked, clustered or grouped are welcome to participate together or as individual schools. You can join forces to share resources, joint INSET, and evaluation of the activities.
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What qualifications do the Cooking Bus teaching staff have? |
There are two fully qualified mainstream food teachers on the Cooking Bus, the senior Advisory Teacher and the Support Teacher.
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Our school doesn't have much cooking equipment. Is that a problem? |
That's not a problem – the Cooking Bus comes fully equipped. Cooking Bus staff need access to some facilities in the school but these are detailed in the application pack.
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What precautions are advised for children who may have allergies and food intolerances? |
All allergies or food intolerances should be recorded and the bus's teaching staff informed in advance. If there is any doubt that a child has an allergy or medical condition that may be triggered or adversely affected by coming into contact with food, cleaning agents or other possible irritants, she or he should not be allowed on or near the Cooking Bus. The Cooking Bus has access for people with physical disabilities. Please discuss special needs with Focus on Food before the visit.
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Ours is a SEN school for pupils aged from 5 to 19 years with severe learning difficulties. Can we apply for a Cooking Bus visit? |
Yes. To prepare for a Cooking Bus visit, all schools discuss their needs with the Advisory Teacher. This will give you an opportunity to ensure your pupils have enough support to take part in a Cooking Bus workshop.
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Where can we get some general advice about food hygiene? |
There is plenty of advice and information on food hygiene in the Hygiene section of the Food Standards Agency website. In particular, Food Hygiene Mission Control is an interactive resource for children aged 7 to 14 and their teachers. Through quizzes, games and fact pages it educates young people about food hygiene issues. The teachers' section contains downloadable activity sheets for further teaching. There is also the 'Bad Food Live!' video, which demonstrates how to guard against food poisoning, and is available free with teacher support material to all schools.
Your local environmental health department may also be able to advise you about food hygiene in school.
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Can we use the Cooking Bus during our school fête? |
The Cooking Bus activities are grounded in the National Curriculum and educational criteria determined by discussions between the school and the Cooking Bus staff. It is designed for workshops, rather than general catering activities.
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If the school governors ask about the value of a Cooking Bus visit, what advantages could I point out? |
Practical work with food, its preparation and eating provides children with a range of cultural experiences, knowledge and skills that add to and build on their own experiences. Work on food can also be linked to aspects of other subjects in school. In addition to health and nutrition and cross-curricular links with a range of subjects, there are opportunities to develop a number of key skills such as communication, working with others and solving problems. Critical awareness, building confidence, and an understanding of business, industry and a range of cultures and lifestyles will also be encouraged.
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We have a nursery attached to our primary school. Can we involve them? |
The lower age limit for children on the Cooking Bus is five years of age. You may want to involve parents of the nursery school, depending on the project you have planned.
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If the bus is in my school, may we invite people to visit it? |
Visitors to the Cooking Bus are welcome, but an appointment needs to be made so workshops are not interrupted. Please liaise with the Advisory Teacher in advance of the bus's visit to arrange a suitable time.
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What else does the FSA do for schools besides the Cooking Bus? |
The FSA has several sources of educational material to help school children learn about healthy eating and safer food preparation. For example,
5-a-day the Bash Street Way provides primary school teachers with materials, advice and suggestions to help give pupils aged 7 to 11 (Key Stage 2 or P7 in Scotland) greater opportunities both to learn about and have access to fruit and vegetable choices. There are also details of how these materials fit with the school curriculum.
The 'Bad Food Live!' video demonstrates how to guard against food poisoning and is available free with teacher support material to all schools.
FSA Wales has developed interactive games about healthy eating and food safety, which are suitable for children aged 5 to 11. There is also
'Gimme 5!' which features interactive computer games and screensavers aimed at girls and boys aged 11 to 14 years.
Dish it up! is an interactive learning CD-ROM aimed at 11 to 12 year olds, which has been sent to every secondary school in the UK. The CD-ROM contains games and quizzes designed to encourage young people to eat more healthily.
Details of all these materials are on the FSA website and in the
Educational links section, which also provides nutrition advice for people at different life stages, including teenagers, and information on our work on school lunchboxes.
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What does the FSA Cooking Bus do in the school holidays? |
The Cooking Bus will primarily be used in healthy eating projects involving organised groups in deprived areas. Please contact
Catherine Clarke at the Food Standards Agency if you are interested in booking the bus during these times.
