At one Kingston primary school beetroot smoothies are on the menu and the children absolutely love the frothy vegetable shakes.

Students at St John’s have been growing their own fruit and vegetables in the school garden and learning how to cook them as part of a new curriculum initiative brought in last year.

Reception teacher Ann Hutchinson, who has been at the school for 14 years, said: “It shows them where food comes from – not just that you have to go to a supermarket and everything is already packed and that’s it.

“The kids love trying the vegetables we grow here.”

Carrots, courgettes, peas and mangetouts are just some of the delights growing on site.

Deputy headteacher Corinne Singh said: “They have made pizzas with a tomato base and courgettes on top.

“Year 1 are going to cook for the first time as well. They will be making tomato sauce for some pasta – we have an abundance of tomatoes.”

She added although the beetroot smoothie had become a favourite, this was not always the case.

Mrs Singh said: “First they were going ‘arghh’, but then they tried it and just loved it.”

The 143-year-old school also uses its vegetables to help with maths classes – with children having previously counted more than 300 mangetouts.

The one-form entry school has also just recruited a new headteacher this term.

New headteacher Lulu Esua said: “I hope to bring a sense of accomplishment to children and confidence to children.

“St John’s has to become the school to get your children into not just because we are a church school.”

She added although expanding the school to include more children had been considered, the site itself could not be expanded on.

She said: “We can’t go up and we can’t go down.

“But the building does have character and we are at the heart of the community.”