Litchard Primary School, Bridgend

Litchard Primary school started their Deforestation Free Champion journey by learning about the everyday commodities that cause tropical deforestation, including coffee, cacao, beef, soy and palm oil.

They held the “Litchard Rainforest Convention,” where they presented their learnings to the local community and members of the council. They had a range of interactive stalls, made and sold fairtrade cakes and inspired others to make a deforestation free pledge.

Pupils investigated the ingredients in their school meals, asking where the beef was sourced from, whether the cacao was Fairtrade, the pizza contained palm oil and if the ice cream and chicken contained embedded soy.

Deputy First Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies, and Minister for Climate Change and Net Zero, Kerry McCarthy joined the pupils for a school lunch, where they had important discussions about the ingredients and changes needed. They also visited Slade Farm to learn about the ‘behind the scenes’ of growing and producing food organically.

Following this, the pupils at Litchard decided to tackle one menu item, pizza, which contained palm oil and created their own alternative using the organic flour from Slade farm and locally-sourced vegetables and deforestation free ingredients. They are asking Bridgend County Borough Council to add their deforestation free pizza to the school menu.