A group of eight Year 10 students from Twynham School in Christchurch are being taught new skills thanks to a course organised by Christchurch Food Festival Education Trust and funded by Dorset Community Foundation.
The students are participating in a ‘Cookery for Life Skills’ course taking place over seven weeks with a series of two-hour workshops facilitated by local chef Ian Hewitt. Each practical session comprises a demonstration followed by hands-on cooking by the students of one or two dishes per session. The final session held on the seventh week will allow the students to design and cook their own meal for the sponsors and parents.
During the course they are learning how to cook both basic and aspirational dishes, learn about healthy eating, cooking on a budget and basic food hygiene but are also gaining increased self-confidence and self-esteem. The students have been fortunate enough to have been on a trip to The Pig hotel and restaurant in Brockenhurst where they gained an understanding of growing and producing fruit, vegetables and fresh herbs, raising animals and foraging for food in the Forest.
Mary Reader, trustee of the Christchurch Food Festival Education Trust, said: “This is one of a series of courses we have organised in secondary schools in Christchurch to give students the opportunity to develop a valuable life skill. As a result of the course they may decide to enter the hotel and catering industry or to focus themselves on another form of further education.
“We are very grateful to Dorset Community Foundation for sponsoring this course.”
