Francis Baily pupils join Jamie Oliver’s cookery class to beat historic national record

Sixteen Thatcham schoolchildren donned their aprons to take part in Jamie Oliver’s national record-breaking cookery class on Tuesday (July 1).

Pupils across Years 1 to 6 at Francis Baily Primary School joined forces to break the Guinness World Record for the largest cookery lesson, with more than 600 schools and venues across the country joining the live lesson via Zoom.

Chefs Jack and Christoph explained the rules. And then it was time to cook, but not before a cameo from the big man himself.

Pupils worked in small teams to make pasta from scratch, complete with a tasty tomato sauce.

Year 6 pupil Anna said during the challenge: “It’s been good fun.

“It’s nice to work with a variety of ages and people I wouldn’t normally hang out with.”

But does she cook at home? Anna replied: “I sometimes help my parents with baking sweet treats.”

School business partner Jackie Wood, who has worked at the school for 18 years, explained how the school became involved with the challenge: “It came up on my email.

“It is really good to see the various ages working together and gaining practical life skills and experience.”

The current record is 6,778 participants and was achieved by the Partnership for Health in Poland, with 89 schools taking part in November 2015.

The school hopes to find out if it has been successful in beating the record soon.