Children from a Bowthorpe school learnt about food preparation in a real world environment when they visited a busy city restaurant.

The 30 children from St Michael's School took a trip to Wagamama at the beginning of the month, where they learnt about making certain dishes, making freshly squeezed juices and the customer ordering process.

On arrival at the restaurant, in Chapelfield Plain, the children were divided into three groups before being introduced to three different areas of the restaurant.

The first were teamed with Lawson and Jessica from the kitchen to teach them about preparation.

Each child got to weigh out the ingredients for either mini yasai or yaki soba.

They also learnt about how the dishes were prepped fresh every day and basic points on kitchen hygiene.

The second team joined waiting staff Jeremy and Paula to learn about the ordering system.

They were told about the number system and how the orders are electronically sent to the kitchen.

They also got to try seaweed, bamboo and fishcake and were taught the names for these items in Japanese.

Thirdly the group, under the supervision of Judith and Cat, were given a demonstration on how juices were made.

This was accompanied by a mini test on the names and numbers from the menu.

Rose Hobson, spokesman for Wagamama, said: 'It was a great experience for both the children who behaved impeccably and the Wagamama team, who hope that there will be more school visits in the future.'

The children were also all given a goody bag with pencil case, pencils, pen, postcards and mini chopsticks.

In preparation, the class had been set a homework competition by their teacher to create a recipe book based on a foreign country.

Is your school offering children an interesting way to learn outside the classroom? Contact Local Life editor Richard Wood on 01603 772423 or email richard.wood@archant.co.uk