It is providing £70,000 to continue rolling out the Food for Life programme - a national project bringing schools and communities together around the idea of healthy, tasty and sustainable food.
There are 81 schools in Derbyshire currently taking part in the Food for Life project and it is hoped that more schools will sign up to take part.
Derbyshire’s cabinet member for health and communities, Councillor Carol Hart said: “With growing rates of obesity in the UK it is vital that we give children the knowledge and understanding of where their food comes from and how to develop healthy eating habits from an early age.
“Food for Life is about much more than just the food on your plate, it works to change the way we think about food by encouraging children to learn where their food comes from, how it is grown and how to prepare healthy, balanced meals.”
The Food for Life programme has 2 core elements:
* To support working with school catering clusters to transform the whole school food culture and help schools to achieve the FFL School Award (bronze, silver or gold).
* To support catering services to maintain the silver FFL Catering Mark across primary schools and bronze across secondary schools.
She added: “Food for Life supports schools to carry out a wide range of activities including growing their own food, organising trips to farms, sourcing food from local producers, setting up school farmers’ markets and providing cooking and growing clubs for pupils and their families.
“All of this is designed to encourage a sustainable approach to food that will help young people develop a lifelong appreciation of good food and healthy diets.”
To find out more about Derbyshire’s Food for Life project, email jackie.wagstaff@derbyshire.gov.uk.