Baking New Ground with Mini Chef Program

The popularity of the City’s new Mini Chef cooking program means more of the tasty sessions will be prepped for the next round of school holidays.

After a successful trial in early March, the first cooking sessions went ahead at Stirling Leisure Centres – Hamersley during the April school holidays and proved a runaway hit with children aged 6 to 11.

Each of the two-hour sessions showed youngsters the importance of good kitchen hygiene and the basics of cooking as they whipped up scrumptious eats like homemade sausage rolls and Milo balls.

With minimal advertising, the first class of 10 children was fully booked after just three days and another two classes also quickly booked out.

Mayor Mark Irwin said the Junior Chef sessions were a great “sauce” of fun for youngsters and a good addition to the City’s already popular Kids Holiday Sports Program.

“We wanted to provide a kid’s program that was something a bit different to our established sporting activities,” Mayor Irwin said. “Cooking was a good fit as it can boost children’s self-confidence by giving them a sense of responsibility and there’s the achievement of being able to eat the results with their family and friends, saying I made this.”

In a survey after the initial cooking class, parents commented they were impressed that their children learned all aspects of the cooking process from preparation through to clean up.

As well as one-off Mini Chef sessions being scheduled for the July school holidays, Stirling Leisure Centres – Hamersley is also offering five-week cooking courses from mid-May on either Mondays or Tuesday between 3.45pm and 5.00pm.

Visit www.stirling.wa.gov.au/minichef or email slchamersley@stirling.wa.gov.au for bookings and more information.