Harrogate school joins healthy campaign to change young people’s attitudes to eating fish

Year 9 and 10 pupils at Ashville College donned their aprons for a fish masterclass delivered by Simon Gray from the national Fish in Schools Hero programme.

Before a live cooking session on how to handle, prepare and cook fish, Simon talked about sustainability, nutrition and a range of fish and seafood on display, including hake, plaice, mackerel, oysters, mussels, and squid.

Under the guidance of Simon and Ashville College’s Head of Food and Nutrition, Miss Jennifer Hardy, the young ‘Fish Heroes’ then got hands-on putting their new food skills into practice, such as filleting a plaice, cleaning a squid, and making batter for calamari.

They were assigned dishes to make, including pan-fried gurnard, Thai-style mussels, a luxury fish finger sandwich, and calamari, before sampling some of their creations.

The session, held in Ashville’s teaching kitchen, benefited Year 10 pupils who are studying Food and Nutrition at GCSE, and a group of Year 9 Academic Scholars.

The Fish Hero programme is delivered through a partnership between the Food Teachers Centre and Fishmongers’ Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust, and aims to ensure that every child gets a chance to prepare, cook and eat fish before they leave school.

Mrs Rhiannon Wilkinson, head of Ashville College, said: “We were thrilled to welcome Simon Gray to our School.

“The day has been a fine example of how our subject specialists work with partners and spot opportunities to enrich our pupils’ day-to-day learning experiences.

“Not only will the session have been useful for the pupils’ chosen course of study, but they will have also learned about the journey fish goes through to arrive on our plates, and niche cookery skills that they will hopefully use in the future.”

Founded in 1877, Ashville College is a leading independent day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 2-18 years, consisting of Ashville Acorns Pre-Prep, and Ashville’s Prep School, Senior School and Sixth Form.

It is listed in The Sunday Times’ Top 10 independent secondary schools in the north.