Premier Foods has announced the five shortlisted schools for its McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year competition.

The event tasks teams of up to three seven- to 11-year-olds to make a sweet or savoury recipe that includes one local ingredient (sourced within a 30-mile radius) and a McDougalls flour-based mix.

Reaching top scores in the preliminary judging, the following schools have been shortlisted:

  • Mendip Green Primary School
  • Overleigh St Mary’s CE Primary School
  • St Martin and St Mary’s Church of England Primary School
  • Woodlands Primary School
  • Gurnard Primary School.

The shortlist will compete in a live final held at catering exhibition LACA – The Main Event (Lead Association for Catering in Education) in Birmingham on 12 July.

“We’re now in the fourth year of the competition and the entries continue to get bigger and better,” said Sarah Robb, channel marketing manager at Premier Foods.

“It’s always exciting to see which local ingredients the schools have chosen. We’ve seen vegetables grown in a school garden, eggs from the local dairy farm, locally sourced honey, and one school which organised a trip to personally visit a nearby farm to select their ingredients.”

Judges include: Carol Harwood, attending on behalf of LACA; Andrew Green, director of operations at the Craft Guild of Chefs; and Mark Rigby, executive chef at Premier Foods.

The shortlisted squads – who are led by a caterer from their school – will be judged on their cooking, creativity and teamwork skills.

They will compete for the chance to win the jackpot of £1,000-worth of kitchen equipment for their school, with all runners up receiving £250-worth of kitchen equipment.