We're Back! Classes & A Brand New Home Online!

Hello,

I am so excited to welcome you back! First off, this is me, Krystall, actually typing this out, so please forgive me if things haven't been worded "correctly" haha, I'm trying not to make everything so "ChatGPT" as I'm passionate about connection, real connection with you all!

Firstly, I wanted to say I hope you are all coping well with this heat and the summer holidays! The countdown to the kiddies going back to school is on and, if I'm honest, I'm riddled with mixed emotions, sad that they are over but also kinda glad to have a routine back in place. But what is getting me through these emotions is the fact our cooking classes will be returning after a whole summer off!! Wooohooo.

So, is there anything new? YES!

During the summer, I've redefined what exactly the classes will offer and how they will be structured to ensure they are more fun, more educational and also a journey I hope they stay on for a long time with us! For those of you who have previously come to my classes, you will know my passion for children to eat healthy whilst also having creative fun and exploring new foods in a non-pressured environment. The mission is still the same, all classes will still be based around foods and recipes that nourish children and get them used to exploring new foods, but I wanted to add more to these sessions and I've listened to your feedback, so I thought I'd outline what our classes will be like from September and the changes that have been made:

• Our Mini Sensory Class age has changed! - Previously, the age was 2 - 4 year olds; however, what I realised was children who were 3 - 4 were capable of doing much more, whilst our younger chefs needed more hands-on and non-structured tasks, so I have now changed the age group. Mini Sensory Chefs will now be open to 2 - 3-year-olds (3-year-olds that have recently turned 3 or need a slow ease into the cooking environment) and our 3 - 5 year olds (advanced 3-year-olds with some cooking experience) will now be joining our Academy classes, which focuses more on development of learning real kitchen skills.

• The new cooking academy structure! - As mentioned, we now have a cooking academy, this is from the ages of 3 all the way up until 12 years old (for now) and the stages are Kindergarten Chefs (3-5 years), Junior Chefs (5-7 years) and Young Chefs (8-12 years). This helps our chefs to be able to travel through a cooking journey and by the time they leave us, they will be fully independent and confident in the kitchen, but not only in the kitchen but in society! We have lots of plans to put on bake offs (group tasks to get them confident with working with others), community projects (baking for a school or care home etc), putting on end-of-term markets with their own items (we will teach them how to organise events, run the day etc) and much, much more! I want our chefs to have a safe space where they create, problem solve and learn real-life skills that they can take with them into their adulthood.

• Achievements! - Once your little chef joins our academy, they will then be able to work towards badges and achievements, this will also help us and them to see their progress with tasks and skills learned. Over the next coming weeks, I will upload the exact structure that our little chefs will be working towards. This also helps us to see if they need additional support with skills and tasks (for example, cracking eggs or following a recipe independently). I think this is a nice way for our chefs to remember how well they are doing and feel proud! These are things that we (unintentionally) forget to praise them on but are actually massive achievements. I know how proud I was when I could make myself my own breakfast and crack an egg with no shell (not sure I have mastered that one completely though haha).

• Class length! - So ... This one is a big one because the only feedback I got about any changes to the sessions (and please can I say how grateful I am to hear your amazing feedback, it made me cry) was regarding the classes running over and also lack of tasks for children to complete whilst the food is cooking, so I have ensured in our classes going forward we try our best to keep classes running within the stated duration and also to keep children busy whilst their magic is cooking. For Mini Sensory Chef classes, these will remain at 30 min per session, but these classes will now only have recipes and activities that do not require cook time, so they will be fully occupied during the whole session and there will be no waiting around! In our Kindergarten classes, these will typically run between 45 mins - 1 hour (depending on attendance and how quickly we get through tasks) and during the cooking time, young chefs will begin to learn the clean-up process and then an activity will be set out for the remainder of the time left before our bakes are done. We will then have a quick reflection time at the end of what we made and how it tastes. In these sessions, if we are fully booked, there will be 2 members of staff now, to ensure 1 staff is manning the kitchen and keeping an eye on those bakes and the other will be in charge of the tidy-up and activities during the cooking period. This structure will be the same for Junior and Young Chefs; however, these sessions will be 1 hour as their recipes will require more time.

• Equipment! - We will be using a wide range of different equipment during our sessions, and these will start to become available to purchase on our website soon for you to purchase so your young chefs can continue their journey at home. We will ensure aprons are available during the sessions (sorry, last time the aprons became ruined in the washing machine, so I have gone for better quality ones now); however, you are welcome to bring your own apron. We will also have personalised aprons available for you to buy too, and once these are available, I will let you know.

I am so excited to welcome you all back to our cooking sessions and I feel very positive that these changes will make such a big impact on our chefs and you as families! I will keep you all updated on recipes and classes etc on a regular basis, so please subscribe to our mailing list and follow us on social media @thekidscookeryco

Thank you for all of your support, I couldn't do this without you! Here's to a new generation of confident cooks and healthy eaters!!