Junior chefs' award makes school 'incredibly proud'

A primary school is "incredibly proud" at the cooking award that three of its Year 6 pupils have claimed.

Davide, Roxanne and Angelina from St John Fisher Catholic Primary School in Oxford's Blackbird Leys won the environmental and sustainability learning centre Naturesbase's Primary Junior Chef of the Year Oxfordshire 2026 award, beating about 100 schools in the county.

The children impressed judges at the final, held at Wychwood School, also in the city, on 2 October, with dishes from ingredients grown at their school.

Headteacher Paul Higgins said they would like to cook some of the dishes for the school community, "so that they can taste the victory as well".

The school said the winning menu, called Plot to Plate, had included a spring onion soufflé, fresh pasta with vegetables from the school allotment and a chocolate courgette brownie.

"The children grew the vegetables themselves on the allotment, which is funded by Good Food Oxfordshire and Oxfordshire County Council's Community Insight Profile grant," it said in a statement.

"The eggs came from the school's own chickens, which pupils name, feed and look after every day. The rest was donated by The Oxford Food Hub, a Botley charity that gives food to the school community every week."

The team was led by teaching assistant Michelle Turton, who helped them plan and practise their dishes.

Davide said that as was Italian, he "knew that the pasta would be fantastic".

"We were a bit worried the soufflé wouldn't rise, but it was actually incredible!"

Higgins said they had entered the Naturesbase competition for primary schools before the summer.

"We have children who are from a wide range of countries, so we asked them what they fancy cooking and one of them wanted to make a souffle because they heard it was difficult and fancy," he said.

He said Davide's mum had come in to show the others how to make pasta from scratch.

The headteacher called it "such an impactful reward for the children who obviously spoke well and knew where the food had come from".

"I am incredibly proud of this victory and it just shows the diversity of talent we have in the school."

The school, which serves families in Blackbird Leys and Littlemore, has won a trip for the whole class to Little Rollright Farm, provided by the Sustainable Food Trust.

The county council congratulated the young chefs on the "fantastic achievement".

"[Community Insight Profiles] gives children opportunities to grow food, spend time outdoors, learn new skills and develop healthy habits, while creating a community asset that supports wellbeing and helps reduce inequalities."