Last updated at 13:16, Wednesday, 15 April 2009

A FURNESS school has become the first in the area to join a TV chef’s cooking academy.

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By Natalie Chapples

Mini-chefs from Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Barrow are learning new culinary skills with Phil Vickery’s online cooking website for kids.

The school has signed up to Phil’s Cooking Academy, a free scheme which is designed to get seven-to-14-year-olds excited about creating delicious meals from scratch.

The celebrity chef has pledged to get 1,000 children across the Furness and South Cumbria area interested in cooking.

The website’s interactive features include the chef’s step-by-step video recipe podcasts where pupils can learn how to prepare tasty recipes along with essential cooking skills, and easy-to-digest facts on food types and nutrition.

The website, www.philscookingacademy.co.uk has been launched in partnership with Aldi and it is supported by Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

Sacred Heart school has a popular cooking club run by teacher Bernardette Barnes. The children make their tea at the after school sessions and then eat together. The group has already used its first Phil Vickery recipe podcast with great success.

The school, in Lumley Street, also received £150 worth of ingredients and cooking equipment from Aldi to kick off their involvement with the scheme.

Mrs Barnes, said: “We are really pleased to be involved with Phil’s Cooking Academy. We used a recipe podcast from the website and the children really enjoyed seeing Phil cooking and watching what he did. Our cooking club is very popular, the children love eating what they have made.”

Pupils are being invited to get creative and send their very own dinner dish ideas to Phil Vickery by uploading them on to the website. The chef will be making a personal appearance at the school of the pupil that creates the best dish.

Phil Vickery, said: “I would love every child to have this in their school.

“They are interactive, easy recipes that everyone can cook and also there are three distinctive areas for kids, teachers, and, most importantly to me, the parents as it might even inspire the kids’ parents to have a go at home as well.

“Who knows what this might lead to? We might get schools putting their own recipes online and making their own podcasts. It’s just getting kids around food. I think it has to be really basic. Once you’ve had those basic building blocks you can go wherever you like. It’s been a huge success already.”

The TV chef told the Evening Mail he started his career in Grasmere and loves Barrow and the surrounding South Cumbria area.

He said: “I love Barrow, I used to go there a lot in the early 80s. I lived in Grasmere for nearly six years, that’s where I cut my teeth. I was about 19 when I came up to the Lake District. I used to visit Ulverston, Barrow, Broughton-in-Furness all the time. I love the area. I came up last year. I still have a lot of friends in Grasmere.”

Mr Vickery said he and his wife, This Morning presenter, Fern Britton, enjoy visiting the area.

He said: “We were in the area last October, we drove around the Lakes, went to Cockermouth, Keswick, we came down to Barrow, and had lunch in Broughton-in-Furness. I have very, very fond memories of the Lake District. I love it, I’ve said to my wife I’d like to live there at some point. I’ve got some very good friends there. You are very lucky, it’s a beautiful place.”

First published at 11:51, Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk