The competition saw pupils from the Waterton Academy Trust design and prepare a nutritious main course meal for the England World Cup football team based off a list of ingredients.
Darren Sheppard, account manager at ISS and one of the judges, said: “Learning how to cook is an incredibly important life skill, so I’m delighted that we were able to host the semi-finals of the competition in our training restaurant – helping to encourage pupils to discover their interest in cooking from a young age.
“The pupils were given 90 minutes to prepare their main course and had their own workspaces and equipment to do this, which gave them a real idea of what working in a fast-paced kitchen can be like. We hope this is just the start of the journey for a number of aspiring chefs.”
Three students made it to the final of the competition, where they were asked to produce a winter celebration inspired dish using food from a ‘Mystery Table’. Finalist young chefs produced ‘Seb’s Terrific Tree-t Pizzas’, ‘Harry’s Winter Warmer’ and ‘Southgate’s Saucy Winter Gnocchi’.
The winner Seb was presented with a plethora of cooking-themed prizes including a cookery experience with an ISS chef at its Chef school. Seb’s winning dish will also be served across all 13 Waterton Schools on a set date.
David Dickinson OBE, chief executive at Waterton Academy Trust, added: “The competition not only champions our pupils developing their cooking skills but also promotes the benefits of healthy eating to young people, which is incredibly important.
“Our pupils thoroughly enjoyed having the freedom to create their own menu as part of the challenge and to be creative with their cooking. We would like to thank ISS for working with Waterton to arrange such a fun and successful competition and we are extremely grateful to Wakefield College for hosting our pupils this year.”