Ready, Steady, Bake! Creative, culinary skills put to the test in City College Plymouth’s Biology Bake Off.

Eight local primary schools battled it out in the industry-standard training kitchens at City College Plymouth to be crowned ‘star bakers’ in a tricky technical challenge with a biology twist.

In the morning, the pupils took part in workshops themed around taste and digestion. Whilst viewing a digital tour of the digestive system, they also learnt about the five basic tastes picked up by our taste buds. Working in teams of three in the afternoon, the biology bakers designed and sculpted marzipan fruits, and were awarded points for detail, creativity and skill. The team from St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School were crowned the winner of this year’s competition.

Andy Robinson-Noades, STEM Hub Officer at City College, said:

“Biology Week showcases the important and amazing world of the biosciences – getting everyone, from school pupils to professional biologists, involved in fun and interesting life science activities.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t borrow the white tent, but this was a unique opportunity for these young people to learn in an exciting hands-on environment. The ‘bake off’ was a great way to make biology relevant and to engage school pupils in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. It is massively important to get young people involved and activities like these hook them into the possibilities STEM offers them for the future. It was a very successful day and I can confirm that some of their creations deserved a ‘Paul Hollywood handshake’!”

Councillor Jon Taylor, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Transformation at Plymouth City Council said:

“Key learning around science, technology, engineering and maths is a priority area in the Plymouth Plan for Employment and Skills, which aims to help broaden career choices. Plymouth needs people with strong STEM skills and we are working on a number of projects to encourage our own home grown talent. That is why it so important to encourage our young people to see the fun side of STEM subjects and activities like the Biology Bake Off awaken that desire to explore, to think outside of the box.”

If you want to get the qualifications required for one of the 830,000 jobs in STEM which need to be filled by 2020, come along to the City College Plymouth Open Day on Saturday 3 November between 10.00am and 1.00pm at Kings Road.