School Masterchefs

A cooking club has been launched for pupils from Saint Paul’s Catholic High School in Newall Green. This after-school club involves learning basic cookery skills, sharing ideas about how healthy foods can be used to make enjoyable meals and snacks.

Each recipe is kept simple, to allow the children to be able to make it again at home. Methods are described clearly and a range of kitchen tools are used. Each child has a go at every step of the process and is able to acquire basic food knowledge and skills.

The club is run by Assisant Headteacher Seamus McAuliffe and Pastoral Assistant Angie Holland, and is supported by Jenny Hardy, Head of Food Technology. It is part of the Saint Paul’s healthy eating initiative, which aims to emphasise the importance of healthy eating and regular exercise to its pupils.

“Like many schools, we encourage healthy eating. We want our pupils to take on board the concept of healthy eating and to show them how this can become a way of life, at school and at home,” explained Mr McAuliffe. “They love everything about it – they love the preparation, the cooking and especially the tasting at the end. We’ve been delighted with the enthusiasm which our pupils have shown.”

As one pupil put it: ‘I really like cookery club because I get to cook new things and the best bit is tasting it afterwards. I think it will be really useful when I grow up because I’ll be able to cook for my family.’

Mr McAuliffe added: “We’ve deliberately chosen to make healthy foods the children want to eat – there’s no point introducing them to things they don’t want. We need to show them that they can eat healthily while still having the foods they like, as long as they cook things the right way.”

“As a school, we have kept a close eye on the school meals that we provide. We’ve adapted our rules and now all fizzy drinks have been replaced with water. The pupils have taken to this with great success,” commented Head Teacher, Wiktor Daron. ““It’s about teaching youngsters to choose the right types of foods and the right cooking methods so that they have meals with a healthy nutritional balance.