An educational competition open to schools across Aberdeen City to design a pea character have produced some fantastic artwork. 

The competition was launched as part of the ‘Give Peas a Chance’ project which launched in April 2024 with delicious new recipes on the school meal menu featuring locally grown organic peas. The project opened up a new route to market for the climate friendly plant protein and supported healthy and sustainable school meals. With education activities planned for next term, this pea character will encourage pupils to ‘Give Peas a Chance’! The project is funded by Sustain’s Bridging the Gap programme, and is a partnership between Soil Association Scotland, Aberdeen City Council catering and procurement teams, pea producer Phil Swire of Balmakewan Farm, the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) and the Royal Northern Countryside Initiative (RNCI).”

To help us share the amazing story of the organic pea we asked Aberdeen City school pupils to design a star pea character.  Over 60 pupils entered the competition and three pea characters where chosen to help publicise the project locally.

The winning pea character came was from Prassida at Skene Square Primary School, second place was Emily from Glashieburn Primary School and third place was Nadia from Mile-End primary.

Mrs Peppitt from Skene Square said “The children really enjoyed the competition as it tied in nicely with our 'Our Natural World' topic. They all researched different designs and used these as inspiration for their own 'Peas'! It was a brilliant opportunity for them to showcase their artistic skills. We are all so proud of Prasidda and cannot wait to see his winning design all over the schools of Aberdeen.”

Alison Johnston RNCI Project Manager said “we were delighted by the high quality art work entered into this competition and look forward to seeing all three winning designs used to promote peas across the city next academic year.“  

Runner up Emily from Glashieburn said "I feel so excited and very proud of myself.  I'm also looking forward to our cookery class next term."  

Mrs Ellington class teacher at Mile End primary commented, “The class all worked hard to design their peas, so we are delighted a member of our class has won an award. “