SCHOOL children turned providers when they took to the kitchen and made a nourishing soup for the community from scratch.

The young cooks, of Princetown Primary School, donned their chef’s whites and took charge in the kitchen as their cook took a backseat for two days.

Wielding knives and peelers, the trainee cooks sweated over preparing carrots, potatoes and butternut squash and mushrooms to make a seasonal vegetable and a cream of mushroom soup.

The hard work took one afternoon, while the next day (last Thursday) they invited their families and the village to come in and taste their wares in true Master Chef fashion.

More than 100 people took up the invitation to test the mini-chefs’ lunch and most were impressed. Emma Byrom, headteacher, said: ‘The children did themselves and the school proud. We are very pleased at the turn-out from the community. It’s a real vote of confidence.

‘It’s been so successful we’re even thinking of repeating this next year, or may be later in the winter when it gets really cold and people will appreciate it.’

Emma devised the idea to mark the annual Christian thanksgiving for the harvest. She explained: ‘Normally we’d have children bringing in tins of food, like soup, for giving to people in need as part of the harvest thanks. But I thought it would be much better for the children to make the food themselves and give it directly to people. In that way they fully understand the process behind making and giving food and also learn something about cooking and working as a team. They really threw themselves into the task and took it seriously, and parents donated veg.’

Under the guidance of Kat Scrawn, school administrator and cook, who took a back seat for two sessions, the children mastered the basics of soup making and then became front of house staff, serving to guests including the Feeding Devon team who set up a food hub and for struggling families in the village.

Pupil Henry Manning, 9, said: ‘I chopped carrots and onions. It was well worth doing to give to people. I enjoyed doing it.’ Paige Rule, 10, said: ‘I helped by chopping potatoes and peeling onions. They made my eyes water. But it was a good thing to do.’ Chloe Pickergill, 10, said: ‘It was fun, I peeled the butternut squash which was hard.’ Oakley Cardwell, 10, said: ‘My mum doesn’t ever eat soup, but she really liked ours.’