Shropshire Good Food Partnership has secured a £100k grant to create a groundbreaking Schools Food Web across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin.

This initiative is one of only five across the UK that has been awarded such funding to bolster green efforts and lower carbon emissions in schools.

Shropshire Good Food Partnership is determined to use the grant throughout the year to showcase how the school food system can aid in school decarbonisation, build food resilience, and increase access to wholesome, nutritious food for everyone.

Jenny Rouquette of the Shropshire Good Food Partnership said: "We are really excited to be involved in this project.

"The Zero Carbon Fund will allow us to really look at the whole school food system, how it can contribute towards decarbonisation, building food resilience and increase access to healthy, nutritious food for all.

"Through growing, local procurement, cooking, eating, taste testing, the discovery of low carbon foods and minimising food waste in schools, we hope to empower food citizens for the future.

"We look forward to celebrating the impact the Schools Food Web will have. Schools across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin will receive an email in the coming week but can also contact us directly for more information."

The idea behind the initiative came from Let’s Go Zero, which is a campaign aiming to unite UK schools and make them zero-carbon by 2030.

As part of this green project, Alex Green of Let’s Go Zero spoke about the Shropshire Good Food Partnership saying: "We are delighted that the Shropshire Good Food Partnership is among the five brilliant winners.

"We’re incredibly excited to see what sort of changes will be made over the next year by each of the five winners to help schools make great strides in their journey to being zero carbon."

Let’s Go Zero’s ‘Zero Carbon Fund’ is a special fund aimed at assisting these pioneering initiatives in scaling up their transformative work with schools swiftly.

Other notable winners include Eco-Schools: Count Your Carbon Playground; Retrofit Action For Tomorrow: RAFT Zero Carbon Action Builder: Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK): Fund The Future, Teach The Future; and Brighton & Hove City Council: Our Schools Our World.

All UK schools are welcomed to join Let’s Go Zero.