A St Albans supermarket is encouraging school children to grow their own vegetables as part of a grow and sell scheme.

Waitrose in Mayne Avenue, Ermine Close distributed ‘Grow and Sell’ kits to Killigrew, Prae Wood, Garden Fields, St Michael's, How Wood St Adrian's, Mandeville, Aboyne Lodge, Abbey CE, Maple Primary, St Bernadette and Oakwoods on Thursday.

The scheme is designed to help schools set up and run their own vegetable patches and aims to inspire 7-11-year-olds to grow their own produce during the summer months, learn where food comes from, and develop entrepreneurial skills.

The kit, supplied by family business, Seed Pantry, contains vegetable seeds, equipment, step-by-step growing instructions and badges for children to designate roles for both the growing and selling elements.

Waitrose will also launch a new ‘Grow and Sell’ educational app meaning that children, parents and teachers can access information on where their food comes from, how it’s produced, and the importance of environment and seasonality.

Dave Martin, Waitrose Branch Manager at Waitrose said: “Having seen the success of last year’s project, it brings us immense pleasure to be able to offer the ‘Grow and Sell’ scheme to many more schools. We hope it will encourage children to choose to eat well, and inspire entrepreneurial minds to flourish.”