Year 10 students at Aylsham High School jumped at the oppotunity to work with the chef and catering staff at The National Trust's Blickling Hall in Norfolk as part of an 'Apple Dash'.

The 'dash' required three teams of students to pick apples from Blickling Hall's orchards, dash with them back to the kitchen and then, incorporating other local ingredients, create a 'Blicking Apple Pie with a Cheese Crust'. Their efforts were judged by locally-based chef, Galton Blackiston. Judging was done not just on speed but also on teamwork and of course the quality of the pies. To decide which nine students would make up the three teams, mini dashes were arranged at the school, with the tennis court becoming a makeshift orchard.

While the three teams were competing, other students were taken to Blicking Hall restaurant to learn how to lay a table, fold napkins and other 'front of house' skills in preperation for the school's next big catering event - the Aylsham Food Festival's Gala Dinner. The three day Festival comprises a whole range of ‘foodie’ events, opening with a lavish 5-course dinner at the school featuring a menu which had been devised, prepared, cooked and served by the pupils. Under the guidance of Jill Willis, head of the Food and Catering faculty at the school, 90 guests were given a delicious dinner made almost entirely from local produce. Also on hand was Steven Norgate, head chef at the renowned Beechwood Hotel in North Walsham, who had nothing but praise for the pupils. “They did amazingly well,” he said, “especially when you consider that they had to fit all their preparation and training in around normal lessons.”

For some classroom inspiration for British Food Fortnight 2009 [click here]

For more inspiring ideas about how to integrate British food into the Curriculum see the Love British Food resource guide Putting the Ooo! back into food [click here]