Inside the schools with edible playgrounds

Schools are discovering that getting students to grow their own greens has benefits beyond healthy eating and unusual learning opportunities

How can we get children to eat more vegetables? There's no shortage of advice on the matter, varying from "serve them with unpopular foods" to "act more like French people" or "just give up". But schools are discovering that getting students to grow their own greens can make a big difference. This hands-on method is so powerful, in fact, that it can even detoxify the dinner table nemesis of generations: the brussel sprout.

"We had a group of children who were so excited about eating brussels sprouts last Christmas because they had harvested them," says Helen Carvall, headteacher of Rockmount primary school in Croydon. "They harvested a load of chard too, and made posters saying 'Glorious chard!' which they put up in the dining room. They were encouraging the other children, saying: 'Eat this! We grew it!'"