The 18 graduates aged 12 to 16 had studied at Northern Regional College’s Ballymoney Campus and were presented with medals and certificates by guest of honour well known culinary arts presenter and writer Paula McIntyre and Andrew Castles from Safefood.

Over a 10 week period on Saturday mornings the young boys and girls learned about basic cookery whilst creating fresh dishes and gained knowledge on nutrition, hygiene, health and safety, team work, communication skills and gained an appreciation of real food and healthy eating.

All this hard work culminated in a graduation event when the young people cooked a special buffet lunch for family, friends, teachers, local business people and key sponsors at NRC’s Ballymoney campus. Special guests included Andrew Castles from Safefood and Sandra Gorman representing People 1st.

The programme, first developed in England by leading contract caterers Compass Group, aims to encourage more young people to consider a career as a chef. Research with local employers carried out by People 1st identified a lack of technically skilled chefs as a barrier to filling vacancies and effective performance. Indeed around 1 in 20 (6%) hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism (HLTT) employers in Northern Ireland are having difficulty recruiting chefs or cooks.

Northern Regional College Director Trevor Neilands said, “It’s been a wonderful 10 weeks and a mark of the success of our first ever Junior Chefs’ Academy is the fantastic feedback we’ve had from students, schools and parents. Our staff have thoroughly enjoyed teaching such an enthusiastic and hard-working group of young people. We’d like to thank DEL and other funders and sponsors and hopefully some of our graduates will eventually become chefs themselves and open up hotels or restaurants in this beautiful region of Northern Ireland.”

The Junior Chefs’ Academy programme has been developed by Compass Group and brought to Northern Ireland by People 1st with support from the Department for Employment and Learning. Key sponsors include Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Safefood, City and Guilds and the Institute of Hospitality.

Northern Regional College Junior Chefs’ Academy graduates included:

Susan Anderson, Natasha Finch and Niamh Johnston (Coleraine Girls’ High School) Amber Lee Barnett, Aoife Cameron-Mitchell and Paul Harkness (Dalriada School, Ballymoney) Ellen May Boyle-McAree (Loreto College, Coleraine) Sean Bradley and Rachael McMichael (Cross & Passion, Ballycastle) Ashleigh Faloner, Lauren McConaghy, Oliver Molloy, Hannah and Jake Pulman (Ballycastle High School) Elizabeth Gilmore and Jordan Horner (Garvagh High School) Adam Oldcroft (Coleraine Academical Institution) and Luke Watton-Austin (Domincan College (Portstewart).

Two graduates from each of the six Regional Colleges will go on to cook a ‘ Meal fit for a Minister’ at Parliament Buildings, Stormont later in April.