A former caterer from Gedling has set up a new business offering classes designed to teach the borough’s youngsters that cooking healthy food can be easy, tasty and affordable.
Nottinghamshire Cookery School has been set up by Naomi Woodfield and offers fun interactive cooking classes at schools and also privately.
They are designed to inspire youngsters to become interested and passionate about nutritious foods and to support them in making healthier food choices, as well as giving them the kind of cooking skills that will set them up for life.
The sessions are aimed at 3-19 year olds and parents and schools in the area are already signing up so their children can take part.
Naomi thinks classes like this are essential as these important life skills are no longer being taught to children in schools or their homes.
She said: “Successive changes to the education system have wrought devastation on pupils’ ability to make a life for themselves.
“With all of the emphasis given to SATS, GCSE, targets and academic respectability, life skills are losing out.
“With the emphasis on academic respectability, practical subjects are being devalued.
“In the past, girls used to be taught life skills in the home by their mothers, who didn’t have to go out to work to supplement the family income. Boys who wanted to go into practical jobs would be taught woodwork and metalwork at school. Technical colleges would supplement apprenticeships to give our plumbers, engineers etc the skills that they needed.
“Now, with women needing and demanding to have jobs, home life has suffered. Old domestic habits are disappearing. Life for adults revolves around work and children have become the targets for advertising.
“Convenience is the order of the day: ready meals for the adults and snacks for the kids. Evening meals, with the family seated around the table, are a thing of the past.”
School should be much more than an academic factory for turning out winners and losers. It should adopt a holistic approach to education that includes health and well-being as a foundation stone for future personal growth. Mealtimes and ‘breaks’ should be given the same consideration as the rest of the curriculum. The school cook and her staff should be given the same respect as the teachers.
Naomi added: “My ambition is twofold: I want to create a situation where children enjoy school meals and are encouraged to abandon unhealthy snacking in favour of balanced and unfussy food and enable parents to support their children’s development by providing out-of-school cookery workshops.”
More details about the wide range of classes on offer can be found at Naomi’s website: https://www.nottinghamshirecookeryschool.co.uk
