Celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala has officially opened Stanhope Primary School’s new kitchen to help pupils learn how to cook and prepare healthy food.
It marked a remarkable turnaround at the school in Greenford. Until recently, Stanhope’s pupils were the most overweight pupils in the borough. But a number of initiatives introduced by headteacher Sahreen Siddiqui and Ealing Council’s health improvement team have made a big difference.
Between 2013 and 2015, Stanhope’s reception and Year 6 pupils had the highest rates of children who were overweight or obese compared to any other school in Ealing. However, the most recent data released in August 2016 showed a very different picture, with a 22% reduction in the number of pupils overweight or obese, bucking the local and national trends. It has provoked interest from across the country.
You can read the full story of Stanhope’s remarkable success story in the September edition of Around Ealing magazine. Look out for your copy at the time, or you will also be able to see the story here on Ealing News Extra in early September.
Stanhope is the first school in Ealing to be officially adopted by The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts’ Adopt-a-School programme; and the fully-equipped, fitted kitchen was generously donated by Magnet, a British kitchen retailer.
At the opening of the kitchen last week, The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts organised taste-testing sessions, learning activities and a cooking session with the school’s health champions.
Cyrus, who was recently named BBC Food Personality of the Year, cut the ribbon to officially open the new kitchen, and got to see food prepared and cooked by the health champions. Cyrus then talked to the 600 pupils at Stanhope in assembly about why he loves cooking and what inspired him to become a chef.
