2012: A great year for teaching

As the end of 2012 draws ever closer, I have been looking back over the last year in the world of Kitchen Fairy Godmother and thinking about my highlights.  Funnily enough, a lot of them have involved children and schools.

In January and February, I ran cooking sessions with Year 2 and 3 children at The Free School Norwich.  Each week we baked something yummy and did a food based activity ranging from food tasting to creating fruit characters and designing unusual pizzas.  Not sure the various pizza combinations are likely to see the inside of an oven but never mind!

I teamed up with Age UK Norwich in March and April to run inter-generational cooking sessions at St Williams Primary School, Norwich.  As well as learning baking skills and cooking up some brilliant WWII recipes, the children and “mature students” (top age 92!) talked about how things have changed from the war years to now and gained a better understanding of each other.  Some wonderful stories were shared.

My Easter and summer holidays and half terms were filled with cooking sessions for Broadland Tots 2 Teens and Thorpe St Andrew Extended School Cluster.  These are always great fun and the kids love cooking all sorts of different things and proudly taking them home to Mum and Dad.  With the Tots 2 Teens session the parents are always very pleased as the children bring home a full meal for four!

September was super busy with four days cooking at Reepham Primary School ahead of their harvest celebrations.  By the end of the week I had cooked with the whole school – quite an organisational challenge but really successful.  I was really proud when a group of the girls (who booked a children’s cooking party) could remember all the health and safety chat at the beginning.  Nice to know they were listening!

September also saw the inaugural Teen Cuisine competition sponsored by Broadland District Council and D & F McCarthys and run by yours truly.  Twelve students ranging from Years 10 and 11 cooked up a storm over four days with Jess from Reepham High School being crowned the winner.  We are already planning next year’s competition – can’t wait!

My “school” year was topped off by being invited to judge the Festive Cake competition at Hellesdon High School.  What an honour!  The cakes were of a really high standard and it was great to see how much work and care had gone into them.

So all in all it’s been a great year and I’m looking forward to the challenges of 2013.  I’m hoping to be working with lots of schools and students next year, as after all, they are our future!

With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

katrina is a self-taught cook who is passionate about passing on an interest in food and basic cooking skills to families and children. She owns a small business called Kitchen Fairy Godmother in Norwich which provides cooking lessons, children’s cooking parties and a variety of cookery workshops.