Costessey schoolchildren learn to cook for their parents

These youngsters brought home the bacon yesterday by learning to cook for their parents.

The four and five-year-olds had fun in their school's kitchen making cheese straws from scratch for their mums and dads.

The aspiring Delia Smiths from Costessey Infant School, on Beaumont Road, are taught new recipes every Wednesday morning.

Over the past four years hundreds of pupils have brought freshly baked treats home, thanks to the school's enthusiasm for cooking. Headteacher Rosemary Kett said: 'It is really important that the children have these experiences. It involves lots of skills such as maths when they are weighing the ingredients and reading the recipes.'

She said that by getting the children to cook it also encouraged parents in the kitchen.

The school has published its own cookbook and also runs cooking classes after school which quickly fill up.

Teaching assistant Amanda Youngman, who helps run the class, said: 'The parents think it is really good and ask for the recipes.'

The pupils also show off their efforts in buffet lunches to which parents are invited.

Volunteer Jill Lamb, who has taught the youngsters how to make pizzas and meringues, added: 'It teaches them about the values of different foods as well as table manners and how to set the table.'

The cookery classes began in 2008 as part of a scheme called Let's Get Cooking, funded by the National Lottery, to improve children's diets. Mrs Kett said: 'We started it then with an enthusiastic teaching assistant and Mrs Lamb and we looked at healthy eating and how we could encourage cooking. It is just a really nice community activity.'

Do you have a story about Costessey for the Evening News? Contact reporter Tom Bristow on 01603772313 or email tom.bristow@archant.co.uk