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Lessons In Loaf
The Real Bread Campaign calls on policy makers and educators to put Real Bread making on every school timetable.
See also
- Real Bread on the school menu and timetable (archived page)
Lessons In Loaf
Launched in 2009, Lessons In Loaf is the Real Bread Campaign’s initiative to encourage people who can make Real Bread to share this valuable life skill with children in schools.
Between 2009 and 2013, Lessons In Loaf was funded by The Big Lottery’s Local Food programme. During this time, we received confirmation that more than 10,000 children at over 120 schools had learned to bake Real Bread thanks to our work. As our guides were downloaded more than 3000 times, the figure is likely to be much higher.
We thank all of the Real Bread bakers, cookery teachers and other bread makers who gave up their time, and shared their knowledge and skills, to run these lessons in local schools in the name of the Campaign.
NB Lessons in Loaf is a trademark of Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming.
Lessons In Loaf guide
Published in 2009, the original Lessons In Loaf guide went beyond the fun and practical life skill of baking.
It included lesson plans, recipes, information and ideas to help teachers get children at Key Stage 2 [as it stood in 2009] thinking and asking questions about the food they eat, where it comes from and how it is made.
Bake Your Lawn guide
As a companion to Lessons In Loaf, in 2011, the Campaign published a guide on how kids can take a handful of wheat and grow it, mill it, bake it.
Bake Your Lawn: The book
This handbook, which combines updates and expands the orginal two guides, was published by Sustain in March 2024.
Lessons in Loaf: London
November 2019 update: The Real Bread Campaign is unable to be a partner in Lessons In Loaf: Loandon for the winter 2019 and spring 2020 planting seasons. Please direct any queries to Grow Your Own Playground.
Spring 2019
Would you like to help pupils at your school discover how to grow their own loaves of Real Bread?
Lessons in Loaf: London sees the Real Bread Campaign team up with Grow Your Own Playground, whose experts will lead children on a fascinating journey from seed to sandwich.
Pupils and teachers on the full Build, Sow, Grow, Harvest and Bake programme will be guided by experienced food growers and bakers through hands-on workshops through the year to:
- Build a planter
- Sow your wheat seeds
- Look after your crop right through to harvest
- Thresh, winnow and mill your wheat
- Bake a loaf of bread to take home and share with family and friends
In addition to the valuable life skills of food growing and bread making, Lessons in Loaf: London touches on many curriculum subjects.
For further details of all of the options, including costs, register your interest here.
Applications for the full Build, Sow, Grow, Harvest and Bake programme (and, if applicable, the grant) closed on Friday 3 May 2019
NB The content of Lessons in Loaf: London is devised and delivered by Grow Your Own Playground and differs from the Real Bread Campaign's original Lessons In Loaf guide.
“We so look forward to our Lessons in Loaf. Every part of the curriculum is alive throughout the day and every child receives an experience that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.” Maria Lewington, Headteacher, John Scurr School
Project grant
Any school in London can apply to take part in Lessons In Loaf: London.
Thanks to the Worshipful Company of Bakers, five schools in Newham and Tower Hamlets taking the full Build, Sow, Grow, Harvest and Bake programme will be chosen to receive a grant covering half of the costs of the support outlined above.
Find out more and register
For further details of all of the options, including costs, register your interest here.
Applications for the full Build, Sow, Grow, Harvest and Bake programme (and, if applicable, the grant) closed on Friday 3 May 2019
Options
As an alternative to the full Build, Sow, Grow, Harvest and Bake programme outlined above, the Sow, Grow, Harvest and Bake programme excludes planter building, so is an option for a school with a suitable existing bed.
Too late to plant wheat this year? Don’t worry, Grow Your Own Playground can arrange a bread making day. If you are unsure if this project will be possible at your school, Grow Your Own Playground can offer a consultation visit.
Partners
Lessons in Loaf: London is run by school food expert Cassie Liversidge. Having been helping schools to grow wheat to bake into bread since 2010 as part of Grow Your Own Playground, she has the experience to ensure a smooth and professionally run programme.
The Real Bread Campaign is part of the food and farming charity Sustain, which also runs London Food Link and its Capital Growth network of community food growing spaces.
Five schools on the programme will be supported by the Worshipful Company of Bakers, which can trace its origins back to 1155 and is the City of London’s second oldest recorded guild. The Company plays an active role in the continuing development of the baking industry and allied trades through training, scholarships and charitable support. The Bakers' Co is giving no funding to the Real Bread Campaign.
Real Bread Campaign: The Real Bread Campaign finds and shares ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet. Whether your interest is local food, community-focussed small enterprises, honest labelling, therapeutic baking, or simply tasty toast, everyone is invited to become a Campaign supporter.
