A competition aims to discover young people with a gift for baking, and schools are being sought to hold heats to help identify potential finalists.

Buster’s Bake Off is open to young people up to the age of 18, and schools are being invited to hold sponsored heats for the competition by July 1.

Shortlisted contestants for the heats will then take part in a grand-final bake-off, whose judges will include 2016 Great British Bake Off finalist Jane Beedle.

The competition is run by Inspire Schools, and the sponsorship money generated by the heats will help fund the charity’s reading reward initiative Buster’s Book Club.

Jane Beedle will be joined on the judging panel by schools catering company Principals by CH&CO.

Principals by CH&CO sales director Peter McKenna appealed for schools to sign up to hold heats, saying: “Principals by CH&Co are really excited to be a judge with Buster’s Bake Off.

“I think it’s massively important to get children engaged with food, get them into the kitchen, get them together doing stuff as a family.

“There are multiple heats, and we want your school to get involved, and we do want your school to be shortlisted and get right through the process and as close to the final as possible because I can then just sit and eat everything that’s been made.”

Schools can register to hold their individual heats for the competition at inspireschools.org.uk/bakeoff.

Those schools that do so will take responsibility for judging their own heats and shortlisting potential finalists for the final.

Children can also enter individually by clicking the ‘Enter heat winner/individual’ button at the bottom of the competition information page.

Find out more about Buster’s Bake Off at Inspireschools.org.uk or by contacting organiser Hannah Hawksworth at HHawksworth@inspire.org.uk or on 0844 264 0291.

And watch a video about it here: