The top school bakers from across Swindon and Wiltshire have come head-to-head at Lawn Manor Academy in the Ascend Learning Trust Bake Off.
After holding qualifying rounds in their own schools, 10 finalists from Years 6 and 7 from Lawn Manor Academy in Swindon, Noremarsh Junior School and Royal Wootton Bassett Academy in Royal Wootton Bassett, Wellington Lions Primary in Tidworth and Wellington Eagles Primary in Ludgershall met for the culinary challenge.
Pupils began by making their signature dish, with some even rising to the challenge of making their own pasta from scratch using a pasta machine.
For the technical round, the challenge was to make a coffee and walnut Battenburg cake – a dish that was new to many pupils.
The Star Baker of the day was Lottie from Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, with Kian from Wellington Lions coming in second.
The day was organised by Head of Design and Technology at Lawn Manor Academy, Sarah Smith, who said: “As reigning champions from the last Ascend Learning Trust Bake Off we decided to host the 2025 trust-wide competition.
"One of the ALT values is belonging and so events like these give us the opportunity for pupils across the Trust to get together and have some fun at the same time.
“For the primary schools especially, it gave them the opportunity to experience cooking in a school cooking room as most don’t have these facilities. The secondary aged pupils also don’t often have the chance to complete more complicated bakes such as this within the timetable.
"However, it gave all the students a sense of pride representing their school and recognising their talents.
“With increasingly busy lives we turn more and more to convenience food. These foods are often more expensive than cooking from scratch and have too much salt and sugar.
"Learning basic cooking skills at school will hopefully promote a love of cooking and give them the skills to cook nutritious more healthy food.”
Lawn Manor Academy is part of the Ascend Learning Trust. For more information on Lawn Manor Academy, people can visit www.lawnmanor.org.uk
Your Comments
Be the first to comment on this article
Login or Register to post a comment on this article