Primary pupils dig in to learn new cooking skills

Published: Monday 10 November 2025

This image shows pupils from Kirkfieldbank primary school holding various vegetable and cooking utensils with Chef Robert, who is stirring a spoon in a pan

Primary pupils from a school in Clydesdale have had a spud-tacular success – growing their own potatoes in the school garden.

Kirkfieldbank Primary School was one of the schools that took part in the council’s Facilities Services Stop Food Waste Day earlier in the year.

During this time, they were also given information sheets on how they can grow their own peppers from pepper seeds or potatoes from unused potatoes. 

The school worked alongside Facilities Services to take this worthwhile project forward, involving all the pupils.

A healthy crop of potatoes and other vegetables has grown over the summer and Chef Robert from Facilities Services Kids Kitchen visited the school to show the pupils how to prepare meals using the ingredients they had grown.

Head Teacher Joanne Campbell said: “The pupils all had great fun taking part in this project, from planting the unused potatoes and tending to them, to digging them up then creating some tasty dishes with them – with Chef Robert’s help of course.

“The pupils learned essential food safety and preparation skills by making dishes such as potato and leek soup, which they then tucked into at lunchtime. 

“Recipe cards were also given to the pupils so they can continue to not only grow their own crops at home but also prepare and cook a tasty dish to eat as well.

“Huge thanks to Chef Robert and the Facilities team for all their help in this very worthwhile project.”

Chair of the council’s Community and Enterprise Resources Committee, Councillor Robert Brown, said: “I was delighted to hear about this project and huge credit to everyone at Kirkfieldbank Primary School.

“It’s a fun way of teaching the pupils about how food actually gets onto our plates, and I am sure they will have loved being part of the whole process, from planting and growing the potatoes to actually preparing food using them.”