One particularly enjoyable part of being The Vegan Society’s Education Officer has to be the occasional invitation to witness great, vegan-inclusive practice within various parts of the education sector.
With the National School Meals Week’s ‘Go Green’ initiative coming up, which asks participating schools and partners to celebrate what they are doing to encourage an uptake in plant-based foods, it felt like the right time to see exactly what a fully plant-based provision looked like. So, I accepted the kind offer to see how it was going for the pioneering Plant Based School Kitchens now based full-time in the canteen at Our Lady of Sion School in Worthing.
First port of call was to ask what inspired the Head teacher, Steven Jeffery to take such a bold idea and run with it even though he himself is not vegan or plant-based. “As a place of education working hard to prepare our young people for life in the real world, exploring plant-based meals is another facet of our ever-evolving education here at Sion. Our curriculum also includes discussion of issues such as sustainability, ethical farming, fair trade and renewable energy”. Jeffery further explained, “After first hearing about The Plant Based School Kitchens, their commitment to making great plant-based foods, which are also free from most major allergens, it just made sense”. The school held a taste test and consultation with their families and, with absolutely no rejections, the contract was awarded in January 2022.
One year on and this move, “Considered radical by some outsiders” Jeffery stated, has been a beneficial move for several reasons. Firstly, Gary, Anna and the Plant Based School Kitchens team are clearly admired by the students and staff. As a huge queue formed at the serving hatch over the lunch period there were laughs, jokes and delight over the Friday ‘Fake Away’ menu. This type of rapport is crucial in allowing the students to feel nurtured and safe.
Secondly, the parents at Sion now have an acute awareness about how their decision to support a plant-based transition benefits the environment, as one of the student’s parents, Nicky, explained, “The most important thing is setting the students up for the rest of their lives. It is important that we make an effort in saving the world, but the government and authorities need to do more.” To have conversations like this happening amongst families who are not vegan or plant-based, like Nicky’s family, goes to show how ripples of positive change can spread through receptive communities. Her son Finlay added, “The food here is amazing. I have a lot of friends here who enjoy the food and are happy because they are helping the environment.”
Thirdly, Sion is now attracting vegan families from far and wide as their reputation for being a supportive and nurturing environment with a strong pastoral system precedes them. Antonia, a vegan parent of three vegan students at the school, referred to the implementation of a plant-based menu as, “Life changing!” continuing with glee she added, “we moved Internationally because of Plant-Based School Kitchens. In my wildest dreams I never thought I’d find a school so focused on what matters.”
Seeing how Sion has now become a destination school for families because of their innovative plant-based menu is quite remarkable. And even those who may have had reservations at first, such as Austin a student at Sion, have come around to the magic that is happening in this canteen remarking, “everyone likes the food, it has gone well, much better than I thought it would.”
The general atmosphere in the Sion food hall felt a lot like most school canteens that I have been in over the years. The noise, the smells, the menu offerings were all familiar but with the addition of so much more. To have great tasting plant-based food, served with love and sparking conversations amongst its students about how their actions, three times a day, can affect the public realm heavily feeds into the idea that lunch time truly is the ninth lesson of the day. There is no denying that what the Plant Based School Kitchens and Our Lady of Sion school is doing is ground-breaking and is, from what Gary at Plant Based School Kitchens has said, most likely the first of many to come.
It was an honour and a privilege to see this progressive and forward-thinking partnership in action leaving me kvelling as if veganism was my baby and I am a proud mother seeing how far it has come and genuinely excited for the endless possibilities.
The views expressed by our bloggers are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.
