Dear Head Teacher,
We’d like to invite your school to take part in the Young Chef of the Year Awards.
The award was developed with NHS funding in 2017 for Fleetwood, Lancashire to improve the long-term health outcomes of the community by educating children and their families about food and health. To date over 4,000 children across the country have completed the awards and it’s been proven to increase children’s confidence and knowledge around hygiene, food preparation, independent cooking, willingness to try new foods and cooking at home (changing family behaviour).
‘A Meal for A Hero’
This is an award for Year 5 or 6 pupils (ages 9-11) written by teachers for teachers, which covers the Key Stage 2 curriculum for ‘Cooking and Nutrition’, develops pupil’s chef skills, encourages food awareness and healthy eating.
The award is a 6-week challenge that can be delivered during an enrichment week, weekly or across a school year. The focus is for pupils to design and create a ‘Meal for their Hero’. The meal includes a soup, main course, dessert and drink within a £10 budget. Children learn chef skills, seasonality, cooking methods, food hygiene and safety, where food comes from and the importance of food for health. The teaching also incorporates other curriculum areas such as English, Science, Maths, Geography, ICT and Art and Design.
The award is planned for whole class teaching that can be delivered in the classroom, except the final cook lesson, which will require access to a kitchen.
Once signed up you receive full access to website resources for teachers including a scheme of work, weekly lesson plans, teaching videos with Chef Harry Lomas (MBE), recipe cards etc. Printed pupil workbooks, certificates, and copies of our award winning books ‘No Kitchen Cookery for Primary Schools’ and ‘Now We’re Cooking’ will be sent out.
We also recommend some basic equipment to support delivery of the awards. This includes 15 knives, 15 chopping boards, 15 peelers, 15 graters, a spiraliser and a blender. This costs £350 plus postage and packaging but we may be able to provide funding to support/cover these costs.
The Final Cook
The weekly lessons culminate in a final cook. Depending on your facilities on site we can support liaison with your local Secondary school to use their facilities. Many schools supply ingredients or ask pupils to bring ingredients for this lesson, which is something you will need to consider. Some schools choose a number of children to complete their cook rather than the whole class, which also works well as the children will have gained a lot during the programme.
Watford Young Chef of the Year
We are planning to complete the awards by organising a Grand Final. Every school will be asked to submit a finalist who will recreate their 3-course meal for a team of judges. We plan to hold this event at One Vision (Stanborough Park Church) at the end of the Summer Term 2022.
Whole School
Aside from the Young Chef Award we also have 2 additional awards: Youngest Chef (Nursery/Reception, age 3+) and Younger Chef (Year 2, ages 6-7). These awards contain 5 lessons and are heat-free so ideal for delivery in the classroom and with minimal equipment and ingredients.
If you would like to sign up, please return the attached sign-up sheets for each award. You may choose to deliver the awards during the Spring or Summer Term so once you sign up we will arrange delivery of equipment and resources before the end of the Autumn term. If you would like to start during this term please do let us know and we can set you up sooner.
The costs are:
Young Chef Award (ages 9-11) - £250 for 30 pupils.
Other Awards:
Younger Chef Award (ages 6-7) - £250 for 30 pupils.
Youngest Chef (ages 3+) - £200 for 30 pupils.
Find out more at: https://youngchefoftheyear.com/
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch
We look forward to hearing from you.
Healthy regards,
Katharine Tate (Director)
The Food Teacher™
Mob: 07802 894997
https://youngchefoftheyear.com
Teereth Kaur
Watford Youth Council
Mob: 07804 509198
Enoch Kanagaraj
One Vision
Mob: 07702 566667
Email: enoch@ovwatford.org
The delivery of the Watford Young Chef of the Year Award is a collaboration between One Vision, the Watford Youth Council and The Food Teacher™.
