Pupils rewarded for potato growing success

The national winners of Potato Council’s Grow Your Own Potatoes Project have been receiving their rewards this week from both the Potato Council and The Sun newspaper.  Pupils at Sutton Infant School, Norwich and Pollyplatt Community Primary School, Scampton both received a laptop and digital camera for their success while St Paulinus Primary School, Crayford also received a digital camera.  All three schools beat off stiff competition from thousands of schools across the UK to harvest the heaviest weights of Vales Emerald and Rocket seed potatoes.

The Grow Your Own Potatoes Project is an excellent way to demonstrate to pupils where their food comes from and how things grow, as children at these schools found out.  Pupils at Pollyplatt Community Primary School harvested a massive 7600g combined weight of Rocket and Vales Emerald potatoes at the end of the project in June, with Sutton Infant school harvesting 7500g.  To celebrate their success Sutton Seeds, in conjunction with The Sun newspaper, are providing each school with a brand new laptop.  

In addition, Sutton Infant School’s crop of 4,000g of Vales Emerald potatoes was the joint heaviest in the country, along with St Paulinus Primary School, earning them both a digital camera from Potato Council. Pollyplatt Community Primary School also received a digital camera – their crop of 4,700g was the heaviest in the country for Rocket potatoes.

Potato Council’s Tracy Coult said: "It is always so exciting to reward the children and teachers for all their hard work and enthusiasm in taking part in this exciting project. Potato Council is keen to support primary schools nationwide as Grow your Own Potatoes provides so many learning opportunities for children. They not only learn how to care for and maintain their plants but are also able to eat their crops and learn about healthy eating too." 

Teacher Rosemary Price from Sutton Infant School said:  “Both teachers and children alike really enjoyed taking part in the Grow Your Own Potatoes Project. When we harvested the crop they were amazed when they saw how many potatoes they had grown! I would definitely recommend Grow Your Own Potatoes as an activity for any primary school and we will definitely be taking part again in 2009.”

Teacher Mrs Smith from St Paulinus Primary school said:  “The children learnt so much during the Grow Your Own Potatoes Project and had great fun too, which is also important from a teacher’s perspective. They now have a much better understanding of how things grow and healthy eating.”

Teacher Maggie Rose from Pollyplatt Community Primary School echoed this sentiment saying:  “The Grow Your Own Potatoes activity is a really effective but enjoyable way of teaching children about how things grow, and the importance of a healthy balanced diet. The children were delighted with the weight of potatoes they grew and are really proud to have won this prize for the school. We are already looking forward to planting our potatoes next year!”

Tracy Coult added:  “We are currently updating our website with lots of new recipes and information as teachers have found our games, worksheets and lesson plans a valuable resource that has helped them cover areas of the curriculum and get the most out of the activity. We will be offering 12,000 free growing kits to the first schools that register now for next year and we are really looking forward to the planting events in March 2009!”

Schools who wish to take part in Grow Your Own Potatoes in 2009 should register at www.potatoesforschools.org.uk. Any schools who registered for 2008 should also visit the site to confirm their details are correct, by using the password emailed to them. Teachers who wish to find out more should contact Sue Lawton at Potato Council on 01865 782276.