The award-winning

School Cob Oven Project©

"Where do we plug it in?"

School projects don't get much better than this. Children building their own wood fired cob pizza oven is a connecting, empowering, extraordinary and unforgettable shared experience.

Hands up who likes pizza!

Building a cob oven is a complete outdoor learning journey. This work is at the heart of my practice, and I am a passionate and enthusiastic workshop leader. I have worked with schools throughout the UK: from Glasgow to Torquay, Machynlleth to Gateshead. To date over 15,000 children have dug, mixed, danced, built and baked with me!

The perfect project

The School Cob Oven Project links with 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. All of which align with schemes such as Eco Schools, Food for Life, Healthy Schools and Green Schools.

An oven for life

And after the exciting build week, the school cob oven becomes not only a teaching resource but also an asset for fund raising too. At the very first school I worked with, over £500 was raised by selling pizza at a summer fete - AND we won a National PTA Award for "Changing the life of the School"!

"That was the best school week EVER!"

My School Cob Oven workshop usually runs over five days. I often work with 400 children in one week.
Everyone, including teaching staff, TAs, cooks and caretakers, are involved in the fun.

Show and tell

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 energy we need come from?

Connections

There are so many ways my project can be linked to the curriculum: History, Art and Design, Design and Technology, Materials, Energy, Architecture, Numeracy, Science... not least global culture, food, sustainable living... the list is as long as your imagination is wide. Throughout the week children mix and build using their hands and feet!

Pizza Party!

The build week ends with a full school pizza party, where everyone has a chance to taste the fruits of their labours.

I train staff how to light, use and care for the oven, and leave the school with a fully commissioned resource ready for years of use. Below is a child's perspective of the week - a School Cob Oven Project Diary.

Our School Cob Oven Project Diary
Before we can start we need some clay. Matthew said it can be found in the school grounds so we went on a Clay Hunt!

We need lots of cob, so we got busy with the Cob Dance and no shoes on our feet! The Teachers joined in!

children searching for clay

Your headphones should always look amazing! Pick your preferred color.

Colorful

We had all the tools we needed - our feet and hands! We filled buckets with cob, ready to build our oven!

Children working together building a cob oven

We worked together to build the cob oven. Matthew showed us how. We could build our own house now!

It was lovely to work together with my friends. We shared the mixing and the building, and watched the oven grow.

Everybody say "pizza"!

children working as a team to build a cob oven

Your headphones should always look amazing! Pick your preferred color.

Colorful

Matthew helped us choose a design for our oven. We decided we wanted a chicken as we keep hens at school.

We finished the week with a pizza party! Everybody came along.The pizzas were lush and only took 90 seconds to cook! We cannot wait to see what else we can cook in our lovely new cob oven :-)

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    Hands up all those I have worked with!

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    Second visit to Yeading Primary, London, 9 years after the first

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    Feckenham First, Redditch

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    Harlow Green, Gateshead

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    Hillingdon, London

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    Kings Hawford, Worcester

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    Habberdashers Pre School, Monmouth

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    Nayland Primary, Suffolk

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    Bridgend Primary, South Wales

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    Pine Ridge Primary, Surrey

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    Saint Margarets, Torquay

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    Full school assembly, Yeading, London

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    Octopus oven, school for the visually impaired, Surrey

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    Green Man Festival, Crickhowell

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Testimonials

"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. The pupils were so engrossed in making the oven, using their values in a focused context and enjoying pizza - they almost forgot everything else.


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.
The independence we encourage in our pupils was evident, and their ability to co-operate. Matthew, you empowered the pupils to do this during their time with you, thank you."
J. Rees, Head teacher, Ledbury Primary School, Herefordshire.


"Our oven has been a huge success and is used every day by groups of children who are learning to grow, prepare and then cook food. We began with simple pizzas and flat bread but are now using the oven for all sorts of goodies which the children are loving. The introduction of the oven has transformed the garden area into a social space for the whole community and is so simple to use.


The week went so smoothly with 450 children being able to play a part in construction. We are now able to deliver outdoor cookery lessons and the space is used by 3 - 11 year olds including children with complex needs. Thank you for making the whole process so joyful, simple and transformative. We are very grateful."

H. Porter, Head teacher, Kings’ Forest Primary School and Little Forest Nursery School, Bristol.


To learn more about this project and to obtain a quotation email me:    cobovenman@me.com