School Soup Sensation Winners Revealed!
Education initiative Kids Country are thrilled to announce that after being overwhelmed by entries once again, head judge and MasterChef finalist Simon Spooner chose Heltwate School, Peterborough as the winners in the special educational needs school category, whilst Booth Wood Primary School, Loughborough, secured the mainstream school category top spot.
Both schools were awarded a Winter Warmer Soup Challenge trophy and a prize of £200 for their school, supported by sponsors Central England Co-operative.
After cooking up the final recipes with his own children over the weekend, head judge Simon said: “Thank you to all the schools involved for these amazing recipes and putting in all the effort that you did. The winning soups were very modern and with great textures. You guys were brilliant, you could all give me a run for your money!”
He continued: “I loved being a part of the Kids Country Winter Warmer Soup Challenge this year. It was fantastic to see so many brilliant and tasty entries and that so many children and their schools are engaging with where their food comes from and the skills necessary to cook meals from scratch.”
The winning entry from Heltwate School, based at St Georges Primary in Peterborough, was headed up by team leader Davina and teacher Michelle Bull. Michelle said: “The soup competition has been a great experience from start to finish – the students have thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the staff.
Kids Country education manager Sandra Lauridsen presents children at Heltwate School with their prize
“We decided to enter the competition as it fitted in with our Topic and Home Management lessons, where our topic this term is Road Trip USA, hence where the Taco theme came from. We saw some excellent teamwork from all groups, and we will definitely be keeping an eye out for any future competitions!”
Davina said ‘In my EHCP (Education and Healthcare Plan), I said that I wanted to be on The Great British Bake Off. My dream has nearly come true”.
At Booth Wood Primary School, teacher Jessica Knowles led the winning team, who said: “We loved every minute of this competition, especially cooking outside in our forest school. It was a great experience – we can’t believe we won! This has inspired us to go back to our school garden and grow some more vegetables for the summer!” Booth Wood cooked their recipe outdoors as might have happened in the Stone Age, which was their topic this term.
Kids Country is the educational arm of the East of England Agricultural Society, and education manager Sandra Lauridsen commented: “We are proud of all the schools that took part and displayed such amazing skills, cooking up healthy and delicious recipes with in-season British produce, which fits with Kids Country’s vision of helping more school children become better connected with food, farming and the environment.”
Member and Community Relations Officer for competition sponsors Central England Co-operative, Kym Cooper, said: “We are delighted to once again be supporting Kids Country following our successful partnership in previous years. The Winter Warmer Soup Challenge fits in perfectly with Central England Co-operative and its long tradition of giving back to the community.
“We welcome the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives and education of local children and want to say a big well done to all the children who took part in this great challenge.”
