Children from a group of Kent primary schools gathered for a special cookery challenge as the search heats up to find the best young kitchen talent in the county.

Fourteen children from the Village Academy group of primary schools gathered for a Young Cooks Taster Challenge.

The challenge took place at Village Academy member school Petham Primary near Canterbury, where boys and girls cooked a variety of dishes for a panel of three judges.

Apart from Petham Primary, the other schools represented were Dymchurch, Lydd, Lynsted and Norton, Milstead and Frinsted, and Selling primaries.

Judges Jo Allen of All Saints Church, Petham, events and catering professional Blessing Enakimio, and Village Academy finance officer Simona Uberti chose a winner for each school and one overall champion.

The overall prize went to Milstead and Frinsted Primary’s Morgane Argivier, whose delicious Kentish spring garden risotto scored 28 out of a possible 30 points.

Village Academy chief executive Hayley Spedding said: “The Village Academy was delighted to hold the taster day.

“Our schools competed with each other to produce an amazing array of culinary delights.

“It was wonderful to witness such talented children cooking and baking their way to success.”

All the children taking part in the taster challenge will be encouraged to submit entries for the full Young Cooks competition, and Morgane was also presented with a family ticket to Diggerland.

Young Cooks is open to children aged 6 to 19 from across the south-east, and anybody who enters before the end of the academic year will go into a prize draw to win two return tickets for the Eurostar.

Children and families are invited to submit ideas for dishes that are healthy and delicious. Shortlisted finalists will be invited to cook their recipes for a VIP panel at a live Masterchef-style event in November.

The final deadline for submitting entries is November 7, and the winners will share £500 in prize money, with separate primary-school, family, secondary-school and overall prizes being handed out.

Young Cooks is supported by CH & Co Group, SE Medical, Chequers Kitchen, Broadstairs College, Brakes, Golding Homes, Three R's Teacher Recruitment, Southern Co-operative, Kent Catering Services, The Dog at Wingham, Whole School Meals and Taylor Meats.

Find out more about the competition at Youngcooks.org.uk, and watch a video of the event here: