Cooking in front of a live audience, St Martin and St Mary C of E Primary School pupils: Finely Park (aged 8), Harry Vinall (9) and Alice Evans (10), supported their school caterer Nicola Hastie.
‘Wowing’ judges with their raspberry and white chocolate scones, the four-man team showed ‘outstanding’ team skills and also stuck to the ‘locally sourced ingredients’ theme by sourcing their own eggs and chocolate.
Hastie said: “I couldn’t be prouder of the children. You can see such a difference in their confidence from when we first started practicing for the competition. It has really brought all of the pupils at the school together as everyone has got involved with the process and supported us.
Taking home £1,000 worth of kitchen equipment, Hastie added: “The £1,000 prize money is incredible and we’re planning on using it towards kitchen equipment, so that we can start up a weekly cookery club from September.
“It’s so important that the children know where their food comes from and how to prepare it, and this prize will help us teach them this.”
Judges, including the Craft Guild of Chefs Andrew Green; Carol Harwood, LACA; and Mark Rigby, executive chef at Premier Foods (McDougalls' parent company), also praised the Cumbria-based school for its ‘impeccable attention to detail’ from the mini pots of jam and cream to the ‘beautifully’ handmade chocolate swans.
Premier Foods foodservice channel marketing manager, Sarah Robb, added: “We couldn’t wait to see the dishes that each of the five finalist schools had submitted come to life.
“Every year we are blown away by the standard in terms of presentation, taste and how the teams work together throughout the day.
“Huge congratulations to the winning school and a big thank you to all those who took part, the effort that you put into rehearsing for the finals was clearly evident in the high quality of the final dishes.”