Our Christmas events are always fun, but this year was particularly special as we asked schools to compete in a Great British Bake Off meets The Apprentice themed day.

We kick-started the day with case studies of festive themed desserts from leading supermarket retailers including Marks and Spencer, Lidl, Sainsbury’s and Iceland.

Schools were asked to design a new festive themed pudding or cake based on a brief provided by the Reach Out team. These included ‘your new cake must include fruit’, ‘chocolate’ or ‘rice crispies’.

The Signature Round focused on initial ideas and working as a team to agree on a new UPS for their cakes. When the Bake Off Shop opened, children rallied in pairs to make sure they had first dibs on key ingredients. New products began to take shape and after 1 hour, we had some fantastic new Christmas cakes!

The tricky Technical Round followed. Lots of mathematical problems and complicated business terms to tackle. Some schools quickly realised they would not make a profit on their cakes due to the cost of labour, utility bills and rent, and so introduced cheaper labour rates and/or compromised ingredients if there product was to be sold to supermarkets.

Finally, we had the Showstopper Round. Children worked in their teams on marketing campaigns. This was a more creative activity for children with a love for colour, art and language. Team were marked on their jingles, logos and slogans, with extra marks available for strong branding. Once complete, there was time for practicing pitches before presenting to the judges.

Overall we were thoroughly impressed with the creative and technical skills shown throughout the day. Well done to everyone who took part. Special congratulations to Haydn Primary School for finishing in 3rd place, Cotgrave Candleby Lane School for finishing in 2nd place, and Greythorn Primary for winning 1st place.

Our full album from the day can be viewed here.