Adopt a School executive director Helena Houghton steps down

Helena Houghton, executive director of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts’ (RACA) Adopt A School, has announced she will be leaving the charity next month. 

Houghton has spent the past 10 years working at the food education programme aimed at primary school-aged children, stepping up to executive director after the death of the charity’s founder Sara Jayne Stanes in 2021.

The charity aims to help children develop healthy eating habits, an understanding of cooking, food provenance and sustainability, as well as providing an insight into the hospitality industry.

During her time at Adopt a School, Houghton continued to grow the programme and develop its chef team and co-ordinated hundreds of volunteers to deliver the Adopt A School sessions across the country.

Lisa Jenkins, chief executive of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, said: “We are sad to lose Helena, she has been a driving force behind the Adopt A School programme for many years and has developed it in many positive ways. Helena will be missed by all her Adopt a School colleagues and the schools she has nurtured. We all wish her well with her next role.”

Amanda Afiya, deputy chair of trustees, Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and Adopt A School Trust, added: “She has navigated the charity through choppy waters during the Covid years, and, critically, through the sad decline and subsequent passing of our charity’s inspirational founder, Sara Jayne Stanes.  

"Helena has impressed all those who work closely with her, with her tireless dedication to the charity and her innate passion for it, and she can take great credit for the thousands of children who have benefited from the food education Adopt a School has delivered week in, week out during her governance. 

Houghton leaves her role to join EP Business in Hospitality as business director.