Four pupils from High Grange School and four pupils from St Martins School took the challenge to plan, prepare and cook a two-course meal. The competition was open to Key Stage 3 pupils, and we initially had more applicants. However, we could only go forward with a maximum of eight young chefs due to the capacity of our cooking classrooms. Due to the success of the event, we will definitely be running a Master Chef event again so that other pupils also have the opportunity to challenge themselves.

The brief was to make a main course international dish and a dessert to display creative skills. We were lucky to secure an independent judge, Matt Slack from The Mixing House in Derby. Matt was genuinely blown away by the standard of high-quality dishes that the pupils served up.

After tasting all the delicious dishes, Matt decided that the overall winner should go to Ethan Johnson from Middle 3. Ethan made Chicken Thai Green Curry and New York Cheesecake with a Berry Coulis. The prize for the most creative dish went to Sienna from St Martins School. Sienna made Italian Meatballs with Spaghetti and Chocolate Brownies. Matt was impressed with how Sienna had been creative with adapting the ingredients in the brownie recipe so that it was lactose-free.

We awarded two further prizes for Best Effort and these went to Nico Stanojevic from Middle 3 who made Beef Lasagne and Apple Crumble with Homemade Custard. Nico had completed a lot of skills by making his own white sauce and different elements of his dishes. The other Best Effort award went to Tyla from St Martins School, who made Indian Samosas and Cookies. We felt that although it had not gone completely smoothly for Tyla, he showed perseverance to carry on.

Overall, we were impressed with the focus, effort and skill shown by all the pupils. Everyone went home with their own customised apron to remember the event. A huge well done to all eight pupils!