Budding chefs from specialist schools and colleges around the country, the next Raymond Blancs and Angela Hartnetts, donned their aprons yesterday for the culmination of a MasterChef-style cooking competition held in Abingdon.
Open to students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), the Springboard SEND FutureChef competition has been running for three years supported by Sodexo, and Springboard UK.
Eight students, from as far afield as Yorkshire, Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire, battled it out for top honours at the Miele Experience Centre in Marcham Road.
The young chefs each had to cook a chicken-based main course followed by a dessert incorporating chocolate. Each dish was assessed by a seven-strong judging panel headed by FutureChef Chair David Mulcahy, Paul Taylor, Executive Chef at Hilton Birmingham Metropole, and Mark Belford, Principal of HIT Training’s Chef Academy in London.
Belford remarked on the day saying: “It’s a privilege to support the Springboard SEND FutureChef competition once again. Events like this are vital for our industry, they open doors, build confidence, and celebrate the incredible talent and creativity of young people with SEND.
“Their passion for food and determination to succeed is genuinely inspiring. At HIT Training, we are committed to championing inclusivity and creating opportunities for all, and this competition perfectly reflects those values. It’s essential that as an industry we continue to support platforms that allow every young chef to thrive.”
Springboard Ambassador, Michael Taylor, from Sodexo, who organised the competition, said it was great to see so many young people with learning difficulties overcome the challenges of taking part in a competition.
Taylor commented: “There were restrictions on what to cook, a set budget, and they had to cook in a kitchen they hadn’t seen before, all in the hope they’d be crowned the overall winner.”
Kelvin Donald, CEO of specialist education provider The Aurora Group said the competition represented one of the many ways young learners could discover their own, individual passion.
“By providing a breadth of experiences and opportunities that give them a glimpse of what their future careers might be, we at Aurora are more able to develop effective pathways to get them there.
“It’s this approach that, in 2025, saw 100 per cent of our leavers progress into education, employment or training, well above the national average.
“Based on the skills that our young chefs demonstrated today, and the confidence they gained in taking part in the competition, there’s no doubt that a successful career in catering and hospitality awaits.”
The finalists were: Louis, Aurora Boveridge College; Christopher, Aurora Foxes; Elizabeth, Aurora Hanley School; Arthur, Aurora Hedgeway School; Ethan, Aurora Ivy Lane School; Autumn, Aurora RIS Mansfield School; Leah Bloxham Grove Academy and Leah Pebble Brook School.
The full list of winners
- Best in Workmanship, Skills and Techniques: Arthur, Aurora Hedgeway
- Best in Composition, Taste and Flavour: Autumn, Aurora RIS Mansfield
- Best in Creativity and Presentation: Christopher, Aurora Foxes
- Best in Use of Local Produce and Food Waste: Christopher, Aurora Foxes
- Overall winner: Louis, from Aurora Boveridge College
Established in 2015, The Aurora Group is one of the UK’s leading providers of education, care and support services for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities.
Aurora works with over 100 local authorities across the UK to provide them with much needed special educational needs services.
The Aurora Group is part of an inspiring B-Corp movement, placing gold-standard social and ethical values at the heart of all it does.