Muy bueno! Shrewsbury schoolkids whip up a Mexican feast for mums and dads using surplus food

Mums, dads and grown-ups enjoyed a Mexican feast prepared by kids learning cookery skills.

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Pupils from Coleham Primary School in Shrewsbury have teamed up with Shrewsbury Food Hub and local chef the Hungry Guy - aka Stephen Guy - in a restaurant project they call Friday Night Dinner.

Stephen Guy ( aka The Hungry Guy), and pupils Maya and Emilia, both nine,

The unique venture sees a group of 12 pupils rise to the challenge to cook dinner for 40 guests in just over an hour.

Layla Pope, nine, writes on the board for Coleham Primary School's Friday Night Dinner

The school hall is turned into a restaurant and the team have 75 minutes to prep, cook, clean down, lay up, serve and wait on their guests before finally sitting down to a community meal with all their families and staff.

Maya and Emilia, both nine, cook up a storm

Tracy Othen, business manager at the school, said: “I knew that Stephen was delivering some amazing projects in Shropshire working with Slow Food Ludlow, cooking at Camp Bestival and delivering ‘pay as you feel’ brunches, so I was keen for him to get involved with our careers programme.

"Then Ali [Thomas, of Shrewsbury Food Hub] came on board and it snowballed into a real community project educating the children about ‘surplus food’ rescued from the supermarkets."

Layla Pope and Henry Gardiner, both nine, keep an eye on the food

The entire meal is cooked from Shrewsbury Food Hub donations. Last year the charity rescued 214 tonnes of food, re-distributing it to community groups.

Preparing a Mexican feast at Coleham Primary School were Stephen Guy (aka The Hungry Guy), and pupils Maya Edwards, nine, Chloe Randall, eight, Henry Gardiner, nine

Stephen said: “It’s always a little daunting heading into the first session of any project, let alone one where you have decided to trust a group of children you’ve never met before to cook and serve for 40 people, but they absolutely smashed it. There was a special feeling in the room and it really was quite emotional to watch them all thrive and so proudly want to show their families what they achieved!"

Shrewsbury Food Hub's Ali Thomas gets things sizzling with pupils Nicola Gundi, eight, and Olivia Gondwe Hart, nine

Tom Larkham, headteacher at the school, said: "This has been such a powerful project. The children have been empowered under Ali and Stephen’s leadership to achieve something wonderful.

"They have learnt new skills, built a connection with food, realised that good food should be accessible to all and built inner confidence in a magnitude of ways. The changes we witnessed in the children during the 75 minutes was something quite extraordinary."

Coleham School is working on a variety of food and drink events this year with local manufacturers and the Friday Night Dinner project will continue for another season.