PUPILS from Severn View Primary and Brockworth Primary Academy sold fruit and veg they had grown themselves at Stroud Shambles Market, raising £116 for a community food charity.

With Severn View Primary closing as a school, this became a real teamwork project with Severn View pupils starting off the seed growing, then as pupils left the school, Brockworth children stepped in and took over the roles of tending the growth, harvesting and selling.

Outdoor learning teacher, Adrienne Robertson, who led the project said: “I was very excited for our pupils to be able to take part in the Young Marketeers Project as this was a wonderful way of celebrating the healthy food growing initiative that we have had at Severn View for many years - using our kitchen gardens and BioDome to learn about healthy eating, enjoy being in nature and to experiment with foods.”

Adrienne said that to begin with some pupils found it difficult speaking to customers, but that they soon found their feet and started to enjoy it.

She said: “It was fantastic to see pupils really having fun, with lots of big smiles and laughter as their confidence levels increased as they chatted about the vegetables and negotiated prices to interested shoppers.”

One pupil said he enjoyed seeing the smiles from the customers, another said that she is usually very shy but because people were so friendly, talking to people became her favourite part.

“With lockdown many children have had very little contact with people outside their immediate family and this was a brilliant opportunity to allow pupils to socialise and explore a new environment,” said Adrienne.

Ruth Quinlan, regional project manager said: “Children are so distant these days from the realities of where their food comes from. The Young Marketeers programme gives them a chance to produce their own food and see how much it is valued in their community by selling it at their local street market.

“They also develop enterprise skills and learn how they can tackle problems such as food waste, and food poverty.”

The pupils raised £116, which was donated to the Long Table, a Stroud-based charity which combats loneliness and poverty through food.