Warburtons: Best Thing Since…
by Liz Jones published for EDUcatering Magazine
The School Visitors programme at Warburton’s is nothing new. In fact, the bakery giant has been running it for the past 20 years. So how come it’s just won an award now?
“As a family firm, we’ve always been aware of our role in society and the importance of giving back,” explains Mike McDermott, corporate sustainability manager. “In fact, Jonathan Warburton’s sister, Jill Kippax, started the initiative 20 years ago.”
However, in the past three years it’s taken on a new lease of life, been developed and is now a national programme, with the accompanying national exposure.
“It actually sits under our community investment umbrella programme, Families Matter, and makes up just one element.”
School Visitors is special because it entails 22 Warburton full-time employees who’s role is to solely go out to schools and teach children about bread, how to bake and the value good nutrition.
In the past, the team has been made up of former bakers but more recently the role attracts people from an educational or nutritional background.
Since 2012, McDermott has driven a consistent approach to the programme within the business, ensuring it’s curriculum relevant, too.
The starting point for the new drive was partnering with the British Nutrition Foundation “We needed to ensure that it was a robust programme,” explains McDermott.
The core of the programme is practical sessions. These depend on the facilities available at the schools. Some will host baking sessions; others will run sandwich- making sessions. “It’s all based on food skills, ingredients, the Living Well plate as well as topical issues like food waste and healthy eating,” he says.
The workshops last two hours and are aimed at 5-11-year-olds with 7-11-year-olds, a specific target group as this is the age that healthy eating habits are more likely to be embedded, says McDermott.
The school visits are based around Warburton’s sites, reaching as far north as Glasgow and as far south as Newton Abbot in Devon. There are 12 bakeries nationwide and several large depots, too. Last year the company ran 1,000 sessions and on average visit between 500-600 schools a year. That’s a reach in 2015 of 28,000 pupils…
“Our golden rules,” says Mike, “are that we do try and prioritise areas that are more socially deprived and we also don’t travel more than one hour from our sites.”
Warburton’s measures the success of the programme by independent validation by the BNF who visit schools to assess the quality of the visit. McDermott is heartened by top line figures such as 98% of teachers believing the sessions improved the children’s knowledge about healthy foods and 100% of teachers recommending the experience (and 100% wanting a revisit!).
Warburton’s invests £400,000 a year into the initiative and around 36,000 hours.
So where does it go from here? Given its geographic restrictions and the fact that Warburton’s cannot visit every school, McDermott is now developing the workshop online. At the Warburton’s website you can now access workbooks, teaching materials and posters – all free of charge and all free from branding. The webpage provides lessons plans for a sandwich and bread-making session and other resources such as PowerPoints, worksheets and videos to teach about healthy eating, getting ready to cook and where food comes from.
Judges at the National CSR Awards lauded Warburton’s vision, commitment and drive to standardise and grow the School Visitor programme that has enabled it to become a rigorous, consistently delivered and educationally-sound programme.
As a fifth generation family business, it is actively demonstrating how important families are and how committed it is to helping them thrive by making a positive difference in its communities. It really is living up to its community investment philosophy: “Families Matter”.
If you’re interested in receiving a Warburton’s workshop in your school, visit: warburtons.co.uk/corporate/responsibility
You can also download work books, posters and teaching materials free of charge. www.warburtons.co.uk/corporate/teaching-resources
Read more about this contributor, Liz Jones.
