"Where do we plug it in?" School projects don't get much better than this. Building their own cob oven empowers children and gives them an extraordinary experience they will share forever. Building a cob oven is a complete outdoor learning experience. This is at the heart of The Fabulous Cob Oven Company's activity - it is where I started, and I am a passionate and enthusiastic workshop leader. I have worked with schools across England, Wales and Scotland, and over 8500 children have dug, mixed, built and baked! The School Cob Oven Project can link with many parts of the Sustainable Schools National Framework: Food and Drink, Energy and Water, Purchasing and Waste, Building and Grounds, Inclusion and Participation, Local Well Being, and Global Dimension. Once built, your school cob oven becomes an asset for fund raising too; at the very first school I worked with, over £500 was raised by the PTA selling pizza at the summer fete! "That was the best school week - EVER!" Early Years School oven workshops usually run over four or five days. I often work with 400 children in one week. Everyone - including teaching staff and TAs - get involved in the fun. The week starts with a full school assembly where we talk about building with the earth under our feet: What do we use to build our homes? How do we cook food? Where does the enrgy we need come from? There are many ways a school cob oven project can be linked to your curriculum: Art and Design, Design and Technology, materials, energy, architecture, numeracy, science... global living, culture and food, sustainable living... the list is as long as your imagination is wide.
"Before we can start we need some clay.
"We made a sand former. We all love a day at the beach, and we made a beautiful big Sand Castle!"
"We will need lots of
"We're Cob Builders!
"How many pizzas
"Are we finished? Then let's get cooking!"
Call Matthew Lloyd on 07974 955196 "A week on from our cob oven making experience I just wanted to write and express our sincere gratitude for running the project here at Ledbury Primary School. Parents and members of our school community have all given very positive feedback and want to know when we will be running events with the oven. I hope this will be soon. For us as a school it was great to work with a professional who understands our ethos.
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Download a PDF of a School Cob Oven Brochure here
2011 We built ovens at the
Hereford Steiner Academy for
the Kindergarten children,
who bake bread every day.
2012 Ovens were built in
Mid Wales with support from a
Soil Association project.
At one school some 200 children helped build their oven!
2013 Ovens were built at
four schools in Shropshire with
support from the Shropshire Hills Sustainable Development fund.
This is Rushbury school's fine oven ready to start baking.
2014 In March Longhill School Brighton were the lucky recipients of a competition prize in the form of a FCOCo Cob Oven Workshop, and in June I ran a week-long workshop with 300 children at Oak Farm Infant School, Hillingdon.
2015 Three school ovens built this year including St. John's School, Midsomer Norton, who enjoyed a full week of cob oven building in March. We topped the week off with an all-day pizza party for 400 children!
2016 I worked with St. Joseph's Specialist School and College, Cranleigh, Surrey, Feckenham Primary School near Redditch, Worcestershire, Harlow Green Primary, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, Oldcastle Primary, Bridgend, South Wales, and St. Margarets Academy, Torquay, Devon.
2017 at Flowery Field Primary, Manchester, Pine Ridge Academy schools x 2, Camberley, Surrey, Abbot Primary, Manchester, Busby Primary, Glasgow, Scotland, Garway Primary, Herefordshire and Barley Close Primary, Bristol... and onwards!
Clee Hill Primary School,
Shropshire.
"We have used our oven four
times this term, with all Key
Stages as part of their Forest
School sessions for making
pizzas, and we made flat breads
last week to accompany pumpkin
soup. I know that our Forest School leaders will be using it too. We use it for about three hours per session.
We had some raised beds
built near the oven to grow vegetables and herbs which will be used in our recipes.
The PTA have also kindly offered
to donate some money to pay
for a gazebo structure
near the oven so that the children can use the oven in all weathers!"
Clunbury Primary School,
Shropshire.
"It is really interesting how
attached everyone is to
our school oven. There must be something hard-wired in us to find outdoorcooking deeply satisfying. Children, staff and parents are
really keen to use the oven
whenever we have an event,
such as Sports Day, our
Autumn apple pressing or
visitors to the school, because
of the fun and buzz that seems
to surround it.
We used the oven yesterday to
great effect. We sold dozens of
pizzas and the oven provoked lots
of interest, discussions etc.
There were pizzas in the oven
from the start to the end of our
Fair, and our shelter was a
happy little hub. We really enjoyed using it, and I like the way the children feel great 'ownership' of it."
