Our Supporters

"Food is the foundation of healthy minds and bodies. If we get our children thinking straight about food, we put them on the right road. I completely support your efforts."

John Bird MBE
The Big Issue, Founder and Editor-In-Chief

"I am delighted to support the work of School Food Matters. With food security high on the agenda, growing food and knowing how to cook it have become vital skills for everyone. Where better to start this important work than at school?"

Rosie Boycott
Chair of London Food

"I've been fortunate enough to engage children in the fine art of gardening for a number of years now. It is a subject that comes naturally to them. Let us take advantage of this and use the vehicles of growing food and the school environment to improve their lives, both in terms of the food they consume and their physical and spiritual wellbeing"

Chris Collins
RHS Campaign for School Gardening and Blue Peter Gardener

"Our children deserve better than we are currently giving them and schools are a great place to start. By making links with local farms, children can come to understand the full story of where their food comes from and how it is produced. In doing so, we can hope they will build a healthy relationship with food that can last them a lifetime. School Food Matters will make a vital local contribution to this important agenda."

Tony Cooke
Programme Director, Year of Food and Farming

"It's an old cliché that we are what we eat, but it's true. School Food Matters? There is only one answer. Of course it does - very much."

Jonathan Dimbleby
Writer, Broadcaster and former President, Soil Association

"Natural England is fully supportive of the School Food Matters goals and is keen that schools should make links to farms for both education purposes and to obtain locally grown fresh food. We would encourage farmers to host school visits, and schools to participate in the Year of Food and Farming and the School Food Matters initiative."

Mark Felton
Executive Leadership Group, Natural England

"More than ever it really does matter that we know where our food comes from, what issues are raised, and how to cook it. These are life skills that not only affect us individually but also the wider world. I believe that the School Food Matters campaign is fantastic response to this debate, which helps by personalising the food chain and by actively bringing together the various strands, from growing to cooking. Hopefully, the result will literally be life-transforming experiences for the children involved."

Bill Graham OBE
Executive Director, FACE

"Never before has food been so important to the health and welfare of the next generation. Ensuring that a 'whole school approach' to food is embraced by all involved is crucial to reducing health inequalities in our children and young people. The School Food Matters campaign is an example of good practice in this ethos. I think it's brilliant and that's why I'm happy to lend any support I can to the tireless efforts of everyone involved. Keep up the good work. I'm right behind you."

Lindsay Graham
School Food and Health Advisor

"In this age of mass-produced and unidentifiable gloop, people yearn to know where their food comes from. They want good ingredients, and they want them where possible to be locally sourced. I am convinced that bringing back school kitchens, and proper meals, will be a major part of our campaign against childhood obesity."

Boris Johnson
Mayor of London

"This looks like an excellent and worthwhile initiative. I would be happy to lend my support to the campaign."

Ken Livingstone
Former Mayor of London

"We need adults and young people alike to have a real understanding of where our food comes from, how it is grown and what it takes to grow it. Without this our food will simply be taken for granted. We will neither value it, nor respect the people who produce it. So an early experience of life on the farm, of digging potatoes, of collecting eggs, of feeding sheep, pigs and cows, is crucial if our children are to begin to comprehend the importance of food in our lives. And so we send you our warmest best wishes for the success of this timely and important initiative."

Clare & Michael Morpurgo
Founders of Farms for City Children

Three years down the road from my own school dinners campaign, I know that the long term future of our kids health is really based on the success of local projects like yours in Kingston and Richmond. The success of this is so important because it will inspire other councils, teachers and parents, to bring both cooking education and fresh school lunches together. In a short space of time it will have a profound effect on health and education. Good luck. Jamie x

Jamie Oliver
Chef and Broadcaster

"I'm delighted to give my full support to the School Food Matters campaign. We all need to work in partnership for the next generation. Our children are our future, and deserve our continued efforts to improve the quality of the meals they are served in their schools."

Jeanette Orrey
The Soil Association

"I'd be delighted to support this excellent initiative. Every child should learn what good food is about. It affects not only our health but also our respect for our environment and how we use land locally"

James Page
Green Party

"School Food Matters is really helping children to understand the origins of their food and we are delighted to support this ambition. "

Mark Price
Managing Director, Waitrose

"School Food Matters supports the aims of the Mayor of London's food strategy, in reducing food miles and providing educational opportunities. I believe that this is a valuable work, with the climate, both literally and metaphorically, being right for this project."

Ben Reynolds
Network Director, London Food Link and Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming

"I support School Food Matters because no packed lunch, however lovingly prepared, could match a lunch prepared in a well-equipped and staffed school kitchen. The establishment of such kitchens in schools throughout Richmond and Kingston is a very noble aim which will promote togetherness as much as health."

Sir Tim Rice
Lyricist

"This campaign brings all the pieces of the puzzle together - the growers, the cooks, the parents, the schools and most importantly the kids. That's what makes this campaign so exciting. How did we lose sight of such important fundamental principles? Of course kids need to know where our food comes from, how to prepare it and why our body needs it."

Jackie Schneider
Merton Parents for Better Food in School

"School Food Matters is a great initiative. We are what we eat and all our kids deserve the best start in life whatever background they come from. Helping them to understand the process of growing and farming gives us all hope for their future."

Joe Swift
Garden Designer and TV Gardener

"Knowing where our food comes from and, just as importantly, how to grow it, is something I feel passionately about. So good luck to School Food Matters - and more power to your spade!"

Alan Titchmarsh
Gardener and Broadcaster

"The Food for Life Partnership is delighted to support School Food Matters. Giving pupils the opportunity to enjoy good food, engaging them in cooking, growing and farm links, helps to develop and value a good food culture."

Fiona White
Food for Life Partnership London Manager