Schools...
Welcome to the enchanting world of Professor Poplicola, where curiosity meets sustainability and adventure beckons on every page. At our heart, we embody:
Interactive Talks with children.
School Case Study
The children really benefitted from considering the origins of their food. The workshop and book brought these concepts to live and provided a unique starting point for debating the impact our food choices have on a local and international level.” Emma Edwards, Head of Prep Wotton House
As part of journey Liz and Emma are looking forward to visiting schools.
Our message ; “Where does your food come from?”
It’s a big question and we understand that being sustainable is important; and we feel children are the most valuable messengers for our future and how we see the sustainable future growth.
We like eating Rice;, it’s one of the single most important food groups eaten world wide- the UK can’t grow Rice yet!!! We encourage children to explore, where their food comes from, it’s the little nugget of thought that counts….
In our talks with children, we ask- What is your favourite food?
Where does it come from?
We’re going to enjoy the diversity of our food and the social value that different food and cultures bring to our way of life.
We bring a basket of healthy and delicious fruits, vegetables, and even discuss new foods; Crickets!!
A packet of flavoured crickets, is always popular.
Liz and Emma are available for FREE school visits up to the end of September 2024 – per day charges will apply after this.
To enquire about booking availability please email: foodstuff@poplicolagrownsustain.com
Wotton House International School had a fantastic visit from Liz and Emma, linked to their fantastic Professor Poplicola books about what we eat and where our food comes from. The books certainly create curiosity in young people and enabled classroom discussion around sustainable and ethical choices. We were delighted to be able to have an author visit to further bring these important concepts to life. On the day of the workshop, the authors came equipped with a range of different fresh foods, many of these were familiar foods – the children were excitedly chatting away about the ones they liked, the ones they didn’t like and the ones they hadn’t yet tried! The highlight for us was certainly the flavoured crickets, I was astonished at how many students were willing to taste them; two students even purchased some to eat at home following the talk! At Wotton House we feel it is essential for students to have an understanding of the origins of food – and the importance of sustainable practices in growing and transporting it. This workshop started a long running discussion around food, food origins, better choices we could be making and why.
The discussion around the origin of food together with the curriculum, sparked an idea, we were already using many of the NFU education resources and had been learning about the importance of healthy soil as part of our rewilding project.
We then started thinking about important meals and where they came from, with Christmas lunch being the most significant feast for many of our students, and the only ‘feast’ that is actually cooked in school. With this in mind, we decided to grow Christmas dinner for the whole school – including hatching out the turkeys in the classroom and getting the children out working the land. The students were able to devote one day every week to the project – and we had amazing success. Liz and Emma remained a part of the process and we shared ideas throughout, we were delighted that Liz was also able to join us for the final Christmas lunch with the rest of the school – all grown at the school farm. This workshop started something much bigger, an adventure which led us through a really wonderful process that the students will remember forever.
‘’I sincerely hope to work with Liz and Emma in the future, they have thought of everything – they even prepared fantastic activity sheets to follow up their workshop. They are passionate about creating transformative experiences around food, their questioning encourages students to think about these important issues in a new way: I thoroughly recommend it – and who knows where it could lead you! ‘’ Emma Edwards
Turkey Dinner Book Concept
Géraldine Tirifahy, School Counsellor
What a good idea to help the children deal with this! I think that a book is a good place to start talking as it is never an easy topic.
In my opinion, the text that you have written is honest, kind and empathic, which are the three points to focus on when talking about death and killing. It is true that the children might have developed feelings akin to those they have for pets, it is important to comment on the fact that the turkeys are not pets, they are being bred for food. I would validate their feelings and help them start the journey to expressing any complex emotion.
It is also essential to talk about the fact that their end will be humane, that the turkeys will not suffer.
I think it is good to open a place of dialogue where anything can be said, as the children might have thoughts and feelings that are new, and therefore difficult to express.
I can recommend the steps of grief from Kubler-Ross, this might help everyone to verbalise their feelings.