Countdown to Kent Cooks

Primary and Secondary pupils have until Tuesday, November 7 to get their entries in for the county’s official cooking competition for schools.

Kent Cooks 2016 from KM Charity Team on Vimeo.

The annual contest is staged by the charity department of the KM Group to generate excitement about cooking - and to encourage young people to develop skills in preparing healthy meals to a budget.

Schools can get on board by helping pupils to submit entries in the classroom or by encouraging them to enter from home. All the young chefs need to do is prepare a dish and upload a photograph of the meal plus recipe details to the Kent Cooks website. All entries will be featured on the website as online recipe cards to showcase their work.

Students entering the Secondary school and family categories must create two dishes to showcase their cooking skills while Primary school pupils are only required to submit one dish. A child must be accompanied by an adult for the family category and this can be a teacher, parent, guardian, Special Educational Needs Coordinator or Family Liaison Officer.

The best entrants for each category will be invited to make their dish for a VIP judging panel at the competition final hosted by East Kent College. The winners will receive certificates, goody bags and a share of the £500 prize pot.

Maxine Tarquini from Kent Cooks said: "Each year it is wonderful to see finalists’ delight and sense of accomplishment as well as how proud their parents and teachers are of them. If you know a child with any interest in baking or cooking, this is a great opportunity for them to step up to the plate.”

She added: “The competition fits neatly with many food-related GCSE courses with consideration given to budgeting, healthy eating and locally sourced ingredients. In fact, such pupils are welcome to enter the dishes they plan to cook for their exam.” Schools can request free promotional leaflets to issue to local families or students. Visit the Kent Cooks website for more information.

The KCC supported publication, Developing an Educational Legacy, details how this initiative links to Ofsted.

Contact Details

Maxine Tarquini
Telephone: 08442 640291
Email: mtarquini@thekmgroup.co.uk