As part of our commitment towards promoting a healthy lifestyle among our young people and our wider community, we have registered with the Food for Life Partnership with the aim of achieving the Gold Award.

Standards are extremely high to achieve the prestigious Gold Award, but with the support of our staff, students and parents, we are confident that we will be successful in our aim. We have already introduced a number of initiatives in school to raise awareness of healthy eating.

Mrs Babington, our Food Technology Teacher and two Year 10 students, Niamh E and Charlotte H, pictured here, have been working with Durham County Council's Sustainability Group to produce the DCC Food Charter and King James has been named as the flagship school for implementing it. As part of their role as King James Food Ambassadors, the girls have been investigating where our food comes from to ensure that at least 50% of our ingredients are locally sourced.

Mrs Babington's Incredible Edible fruit and vegetable garden is now prepared and ready for re-stocking following last year's harvest thanks to a dedicated team of gardeners. Lessons in healthy cooking are high on the agenda for all students in Food Technology from Years 7-12 and our young people are beginning to fully appreciate the importance of a healthy diet.Our lunchtime menu has been improved to include a more diverse range and, following the introduction of more healthy options, we are seeing an increase in the number of students who choose healthy meals.

This term, members of our catering team will be travelling to London to explore even more ideas for our school menu; there, they will be working alongside some of the most successful chefs in the country. Armed with new recipes, and the improved catering and dining facilities our new build will bring, we will be able to realise our ambitions to offer a healthy, more contemporary menu.