Super Chefs 2022: The Final

We were delighted to welcome four children and their teachers from each of four schools back to the Leighton Park Food Tech room on Thursday 17th February for the much anticipated final round of Super Chefs 2022!

Brimming with excitement the sixteen Year 5 pupils were split into two groups; those who had won the first round and those who had come runners up. The winners were to tackle fruit tartlets in the final, facing the technical challenges of pastry making, piping cream and making a fruit glaze. The runners up needed to create imaginative flavours of brownies from an array of options, complete with hand-made chocolate decorations. Both groups had their eye on the magnificent trophy, previously won in 2020 by Hemdean House. To claim the prize one baked item from each baker was needed to complete their school’s entry and be judged by the team of three experienced assessors. Two of the judges, teachers Debbie Ince and Stephen Taynton, were Super Chefs veterans having overseen the successes of all four Round 1 bake offs, the fairy cakes round. The new judge, Jenny Powlesland, Assistant Head: Teaching & Learning, is an avowed fan of cake and has tasted many a tartlet over the years.

Jennie Hatton, Food Tech teacher, whose expertise enabled her to juggle the two simultaneous recipe demonstrations, commented, “These little Super Chefs were absolutely amazing.  They were making dishes that far exceeded their years. For them to be making brownies and pastry and piping cream and doing glazes on fruit; it’s absolutely stunning and they all were outstanding.” “I liked it when Jennie was baking,” said James from Hemdean House, “It looked really good so I tried to copy it. I think my brownies are going to turn out really well.”

Head of Hemdean House and a former professional chef, Helen Chalmers reflected that the Super Chefs competition gave students the chance to benefit from “improved teamwork, the importance of listening carefully to instructions and even if they thought they couldn’t succeed, they did (resilience) in a situation they aren’t used to”. Bailey Mitchell, Staff Member of Thameside Primary School added “It was very successful; all the children enjoyed it and learned something new.” Isobel (Year 5, Thameside) was pleased to have learned something new: “In the first round you get to use your imagination and in the next round, it was really hard, but you do lots of fun things too.” “I learned how to hold fruit to cut it and it was pretty cool.” commented Karianne (Year 5, Hemdean House). “I discovered that the french pastry was really rich so we didn’t have to put moisture in it like milk or water. I never knew that before.” added classmate, Max.

You can see more photos of the Super Chefs Final on our Flickr gallery at https://bit.ly/SuperChefs2022