Mid Wales school's smoothie wins national award

Bro Idris school in Dolgella won the Great British Snack category in the NFU’s national STEM competition, Farmvention.

Its design will be showcased at an exhibition at the House of Commons during British Science Week, where the overall champion will be decided and a chef will go into the school to work to develop the pupils’ ideas.

The Farmvention competition asked children at primary schools to submit entries that solved one of three farming-related issues using Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths: design a tractor of the future; design an environment for a flock of 100 laying hens; design a new snack product from four British ingredients.

In the ‘A Great British Snack KS1’ category of the competition the children designed and made a healthy smoothie drink made out of bananas, raspberries and milk. As part of their research, the pupils explored the nutritional benefits of milk and how using milk in their smoothie could help contribute to strong bones and teeth.

NFU Cymru president John Davies said: “This is the NFU’s first national competition for primary schools.

“With more than a 1,000 schools entering their designs, the competition clearly demonstrates that food and farming has a place in education."

Passion

He added: “It was fantastic to see the passion and enthusiasm in the entry submitted by pupils at Dosbarth y Gleision – Ysgol Bro Idris, all through the medium of the Welsh language.

"It is heartening to know that the next generation are taking such a keen interest in this exciting industry.”

Teacher, Teleri Mai Jones said: “Well what a surprise. It was a great start to the New Year in our classroom when we had the email to say that we’d won the NFU Farmvention competition.

"Last term’s theme was farming, so this project and the competition went perfectly with the work of the class.

"The children had lots of fun planning and making healthy smoothies and of course enjoyed the tasting too. The work also helped develop many important skills and literacy, numerical and digital competency as part of the practical work and cross-curricular activities.

“The children enjoyed learning about the importance of milk, researching recipes online and in books, collecting data on favoured fruits, measuring and weighing ingredients, preparing the smoothie and writing the recipes up. The children were over the moon to hear the news and very happy with the awards. A farm visit will be a great experience for the town children as well as a day with a well-known chef."