Back to School as McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year returns

Premier Foods' McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year competition, now in its sixth year, is open for entries. The competition will continue its focus on building children's confidence through cookery, working with independent mental health charity, Birmingham Mind.

Schools looking to bake their way to the top spot should recruit a team of up to three enthusiastic seven- to 11-year-olds and register online from today.

The winning team will take home £1,000 worth of equipment for their school kitchen, while each of the four runners-up will win £250 worth of equipment. The competition theme will focus on local produce, encouraging schools to source an ingredient within a 30-mile radius of their school for their McDougalls recipes – helping children learn more about where their food comes from.

Mark Taylor, customer controller at Premier Foods, commented: "The competition is the highlight of our calendar and proves such an important cause. It encourages schools and its pupils to brush up on their cookery skills and knowledge as well as highlighting the importance of sourcing local produce and learning where food comes from and how it is produced.

"Following the massive success of the inaugural session last year, Birmingham Mind, the local branch of the mental health charity, will also be hosting a mindfulness workshop ahead of the live cook-off for all of the finalists, helping pupils to relax and boosting their confidence before the showdown.

"It's the perfect extension of our employee-selected corporate charity partnership with Mind. Most importantly, the competition is a brilliant and fun experience for all those involved, and we encourage schools to come forward to enter and take part in what is a really great day."

Schools can register their interest at www.premierfoodservice.co.uk and will receive a McDougalls toolkit within seven days, which will include product samples, an application form and recipe inspiration. Teams will be asked to create either a sweet or savoury recipe, which includes one local ingredient and one McDougalls Flour Based Mix.

Registration closes: Friday 3 April 2020 at 5pm