Fiona Hamilton-Fairley
Born1963
England
Children3
Culinary career
Cooking styleChildren's cooking

Fiona Hamilton-Fairley MBE (born 1963)[1][2] is the founder and CEO of The Kids' Cookery School in Acton, West London.[3] She founded the cookery school for children in 1995 and she has authored three books. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2019.

Career

After completing a Cordon Bleu course, Hamilton-Fairley worked as a chef, and founded and managed her own catering company, Corporate Catering Company.[4] Hamilton-Fairley's vocation for teaching cookery was sparked in 1987 when she began to teach adults how to cook in a number of adult educational centres in London boroughs.

The Kids' Cookery School

Hamilton-Fairley founded The Kids' Cookery School (KCS) in 1995, raising funds to build the purpose-built teaching kitchens in Acton, West London.[4] Children aged 3-16 years old attend for practical cookery lessons, where they learn to cook healthy food from fresh ingredients.[4] Almost 13, 000 children a year are taught at The Kids' Cookery School. The goal of the school is to teach children healthy choices and teach them valuable life skills.[4] Hamilton-Fairley learned that a majority of parents believed teaching children cooking skills is important, however very few actually have the time to teach their own children.[5]

KCS offers assisted places and includes children who are disengaged with or excluded from education, or who have disabilities or special needs.[4][6] The main focus is on savoury food that children will eat,[7][8] with instruction in safety[4] and familiarity with raw ingredients.[7]

In 2009, Hamilton-Fairley's Kids' Cookery School started 'KCS on wheels'. Experienced chefs are sent to communities to bring cooking to children who otherwise might not experience the school.[1]

In 2018, Hamilton-Fairley continued to advocate for children learning to cook. She has said that for two decades children were not taught to cook is schools and now they are a generation that lives on junk food.[9] Hamilton-Fairley has been called a children's cooking expert.[10]

Funding

The school is a registered charity and relies on donations from charitable trusts, companies, individuals and government.[11][12]

Awards

  • 2002 - The Guardian Charity Award [6]
  • 2015 - The Halifax Giving Extra Award [13]
  • 2019 - MBE "for services to Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities".[14][15]

Books

  • I Can’t Cook (1993) By Fiona Hamilton-Fairley, Bloomsbury Press ISBN 9780747513995 Hardcover (United Kingdom) 24 June 1993; ISBN 9780747514008 Paperback (United Kingdom) 26 August 1994 [16][17]
  • I Can’t Cook: Entertaining (1995) By Fiona Hamilton-Fairley, Bloomsbury Press ISBN 9780747522997 Hardcover (United Kingdom) 24 August 1995
  • The Kids' Cook Book (2005) By Fiona Hamilton-Fairley, Self-published
  • Little Cooks: 30 Delicious Recipes to Make and Enjoy (1 April 2008) By Fiona Hamilton-Fairley, New Holland Publishers ISBN 978-1845379841 [18]

References

  1. 1 2 Hamilton-Fairley, Fiona. "How to Get Your Kids into Cooking". Huffington Post. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  2. ↑ Battersby, Kate (27 March 2004). "Big rewards for little chefs". Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  3. ↑ Knox Merrill, Mary (20 March 2007). "At this school, the food is part of the curriculum". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gould, Kevin; Karmel, Annabel (31 August 2002). "We can all go to work on an egg". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  5. ↑ "Giving your kids a taste for cookery is teaching a skill for life". Belfast Telegraph. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  6. 1 2 Ramrayka, Liza (16 October 2002). "Central eating. Kids' Cookery School, west London". The Guardian. London, England. pp. GS15-16. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  7. 1 2 Boseley, Sarah (19 November 1996). "Let loose on veg". The Guardian. London, England. pp. GE 4–5. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  8. ↑ "Can't cook, will learn to cook". The Times. London, England. 3 July 2004. p. 11.
  9. ↑ DAVIS, ANNA. "Ready, steady... learn to cook! Appeal families get pop-up class". Evening Standard. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  10. ↑ "Despite the Nation's Obsession with TV Cooking Programmes, Only a Third of Families are Cooking Together Every Month". wallstreet-online. wallstreet:online AG. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  11. ↑ "Kids' cookery classes". deliciousmagazine. DELICIOUS MAGAZINE. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  12. ↑ "Charity accuses lottery fund of confused priorities". The Guardian. Guardian News. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  13. ↑ Bazaraa, Danya. "Children's cookery school founder awarded for going 'above and beyond'". mylondon.news. My London (Reach plc subsidiary). Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "Order of the British Empire". The London Gazette. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  15. ↑ Hughs, David. "Queen's birthday honours list 2019: full list of everyone being recognised this year". iNews. JPIMedia Ltd.
  16. ↑ Tennant, Jane (10 October 1993). "Taking it easy". The Sun-Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. p. 132. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  17. ↑ "The non-cook's delight". Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette. 9 September 1994. p. 27. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  18. ↑ Blackburn, Maria (16 July 2008). "Teaching young kids to cook by the book". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, Maryland, US. p. F5. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
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