M&S Camden Town

We are part of Cooperation Town, a non profit network of community led food co-ops. The co-op grew from, and built on, the support which was fostered by Junction Mutual Aid which supported local people through the pandemic. The food co-op is a small buying group, which provides our members with affordable food (and a small number of other household products) which are bought in bulk and re-distributed at a very low price as part of the membership fee It is based in the Community Centre on a large housing estate in North Islington; it is open twice a week (Wednesdays 11.00 - 1.30 and Thursdays 10.00 - 11.00) to coincide with other community activities which are taking place at the same time, and attract more members. However, the membership is open to anybody who lives locally. People learn about the co-op through local leafletting, posters, networks and word of mouth. The co-op is owned by its members, who decide together what to buy and how to run the co-op. Membership is not means-tested in order to give the members a sense of dignity by not seeing this as handouts; our ethos is to avoid food waste and to share with others. There are currently 72 members in the co-op, who contribute £3 on each weekly visit (but only if they visit). For this amount, the members can choose food and household goods from the available stock. Some items are limited in order to share equally, but the co-op remains committed to allowing members to pick their own items to match their dietary choices and needs. Between 20 and 30 members use the co-op each week. In addition to the stock of dried goods and household products, plus fresh fruit and vegetables which we buy from the Cooperation Town Food Hub, we have established regular partnerships with some local shops and supermarkets which donate surplus fresh food and other goods each week. We arrange for these goods to be collected safely and taken to the community centre. We also benefit from weekly deliveries from the Felix Project, which has supported our co-op since its start in November 2021. We have a food store, with fridges and freezers, for our sole use, and recently we have established arrangements to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and fish from local traders which has extended our food offer. Apart from the obvious benefits of giving people access to good food for a very small cost, and avoiding food waste, there have been many examples of the food co-op developing community support and creating friendships. Members swap recipes and food knowledge, as well as trying new foods. Members keep an eye on others who may need extra help; people who have not attended for a while are contacted. Some deliveries are made to the housebound, and people offer to carry heavy bags for those who are less able. Our next project is to raise funds to buy a cargo ebike so that we can safely and sustainably collect and deliver food in our busy urban area, and to increase the amount of food which we can collect.

We are a voluntary group who help other charities and organisations with food aid and cooked meals. We also supply food parcels to those in need. We help with homelessness and low income families as well as people with disabilities and mental health needs.

Camden Centre for Learning (CCfL) is Camden’s educational provision for secondary aged students whose primary need is their social, emotional or mental health development. We cater for up to a 100 young people who require specialist SEMH provision, including students who are identified as requiring such provision through a Education Health Care Plan of SEN (SEMH), or who have been permanently excluded from mainstream school, or who are at significant risk of being permanently excluded. Students are assessed on entry to CCfL and placed in small teaching groups of up to 8 in a classroom (some classes are smaller, depending on the students needs) learning is highly differentiated to meet the individual needs of the students. As part of this we are moving towards a vocational curriculum for our more complex students to run alongside English, maths and science. This will give students the opportunities to experience the world of work, gain BTEC qualifications and prepare them for the transition to further education or apprenterships, as well as meeting their SEMH needs, such as working together, problem solving, taking turns and communicating with the wider community. The BTEC qualifications that we are starting to offer include, leisure and tourism, hospitality and land based studies. Students have the opportunity to find out what type of careers are in each sector, by classroom based learning, hands on experiences by completing work placements and visiting local amenities within Camden and further a field. We have already started to build close relationships with London Zoo and Kentish City Farm, where the students have been able to have 'hands on' experience with working with animals.