School caterering company, Taylor Shaw has developed an original new educational food concept for primary schools called the Eativerse.
The Eativerse has been created to make food exciting and engaging for primary school children and seeks to combine the practicalities of feeding children with the creation of an educational platform to inspire and encourage them to make healthy lifestyle choices now and in the future.
This fun new concept includes two main characters – Jamie and Charlie – whose roles are to guide primary school children through the universe of food and drink. These characters come to life through video animation and the innovative ‘Meet Jamie’ activation – an interactive livestream experience that allows students to speak to Jamie for themselves and ask their questions about the Eativerse and the values it represents.
The Eativerse features three planets - Planet Green, Planet Boost and Planet Focus - and each one communicates a different story about food and its impact on our lives. Each planet has an alien representative that tells its story and the use of animation helps to make the information more dynamic and memorable.
Bud is from Planet Green and on this planet children learn about the impact of food on the environment and are encouraged to make informed meal choices as these decisions will have long term benefits for our planet.
Pip is from Planet Boost which is all about keeping healthy through good nutritional habits and plenty of physical activity. The focus here is looking after the physical and mental wellbeing of children and ensuring they continue to carry out these practices during their years at school but also after they leave.
Klug, from Planet Focus, helps children develop their understanding and appreciation of food, the role it plays in communities around the world and its impact including learning about global cuisines and trying out new recipes.
There is a three-week menu cycle to encourage children to try new food and explore a universe of food, and corporate social responsibility is a core theme.
Lyn Winnard, Managing Director of Taylor Shaw, said, “We were keen to develop an easy to implement concept that was fun but also educational and could be linked to the curriculum. It was essential that it was engaging for children, parents and teachers and we are thrilled by the feedback from the school where it was initially trialled.”
Michal Seal, Marketing and Commercial Director, explained, “We wanted to create an innovative new concept which would excite and engage children. This was achieved by carrying out extensive research – from focus groups to input from schools – to ensure that children would witness something different and original in their school dining rooms.
'We knew it was important to identify trends that resonated with primary school children such as space, gaming and cartoons but our research also highlighted the importance of sustainability, the environment and healthy eating to parents and children and these themes are central to the concept.”
Ruth Barber, Business Manager, Ormiston South Parade Academy, noted, “The introduction of the Eativerse at our school has been a great success and created a buzz around lunchtimes. The children have responded so positively – engaging with the characters and expressing excitement about going to lunch.
'As well as being fun and innovative, it is equally important to us and parents that the concept is educational and has a focus on sustainability so that children can develop healthy and responsible eating habits at an early age.”
To maintain children’s on-going engagement, schools have access to theme day communications to encourage children to try new ingredients and menu items.
Taylor Shaw also provides a marketing calendar and schools can choose which campaigns they want to be involved in; banners, stickers, bunting and supplementary materials around each planet theme are also available for use in assemblies, the classroom and parent communications.
The Eativerse was successfully trialled at Ormiston South Parade Academy in Grimsby in June and has now been introduced into other schools at the beginning of the Autumn term with a plan to roll out to over 50 schools over the next 12 months.