Programme
Real cooking. Real chefs. Real proud faces.
A full term of thirteen weekly after-school sessions where your child swaps the school bag for an apron and comes home with a dish they made themselves.
Autumn Term 2026
13 weekly sessions · KS1 Thursdays 10 Sep – 10 Dec · KS2 Fridays 10 Sep – 10 Dec · no session during half-term week (KS1: 29 Oct, KS2: 30 Oct).
Thursdays — KS1
Years 1 and 2 · 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm, straight from class to the school kitchen.
Fridays — KS2
Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 · 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm, straight from class to the school kitchen.
Where
On school premises, at St Mary's, Russell Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1QL.
Cost
£13 per lesson × 13 lessons = £169 per child, payable in full at booking. Individual lessons cannot be booked separately.
KS1 dates — Autumn Term 2026 (Thursdays)
Download .ics →10 September – 10 December 2026
- 1Thursday 10 September 2026
- 2Thursday 17 September 2026
- 3Thursday 24 September 2026
- 4Thursday 1 October 2026
- 5Thursday 8 October 2026
- 6Thursday 15 October 2026
- 7Thursday 22 October 2026
- 8Thursday 5 November 2026
- 9Thursday 12 November 2026
- 10Thursday 19 November 2026
- 11Thursday 26 November 2026
- 12Thursday 3 December 2026
- 13Thursday 10 December 2026
No session on Thursday 29 October 2026 (half-term).
KS2 dates — Autumn Term 2026 (Fridays)
10 September – 10 December 2026
- 1Friday 11 September 2026
- 2Friday 18 September 2026
- 3Friday 25 September 2026
- 4Friday 2 October 2026
- 5Friday 9 October 2026
- 6Friday 16 October 2026
- 7Friday 23 October 2026
- 8Friday 6 November 2026
- 9Friday 13 November 2026
- 10Friday 20 November 2026
- 11Friday 27 November 2026
- 12Friday 4 December 2026
- 13Friday 11 December 2026
No session on Friday 30 October 2026 (half-term).
For the future chef
What you'll actually get to do 🍕
Not a worksheet in sight. This is proper cooking — the kind where you get flour on your nose and taste as you go.
Knead your own dough
Pizza, focaccia, fresh pasta. If it starts as flour and water, you'll shape it.
Prep fresh ingredients
Wash, peel, mix and taste — proper prep with safe, age-appropriate tools and a chef beside you.
Measure like a pro
Grams, millilitres, pinches. You'll read a recipe like a chef reads a script.
Plate up beautifully
A good dish deserves a good plate. Learn how chefs make food look as good as it tastes.
Cook for someone you love
Every week you take home a portion — because food is best when it's shared.
For parents
Why children come home different after 6 weeks
Confidence at the table
They stop saying "yuck" and start saying "let me try". Real skill builds real appetite.
Independence you can measure
By week six, most children can prep and cook a simple meal at home with light supervision.
A calm hour of focus
No screens. Hands busy, minds engaged, adults nearby. Many parents tell us it's the calmest their child is all week.
Food literacy for life
They learn where food comes from, why fresh matters, and how flavour is built — knowledge that follows them for decades.
The 13-week journey
From "I've never cooked" to "I made dinner tonight"
A full term of hands-on cooking, all designed and planned by Chef Dairo Lopez. Weekly themes rotate through fresh-prep confidence, dough & bread, one-pan cooking, fresh pasta, baking and a celebratory final feast. Specific recipes are shared with families each week — never posted publicly.
A typical session
The same warm rhythm every week — Thursdays for KS1 and Fridays for KS2 — so children know exactly what to expect.
- 1
Welcome & wash up
Pick-up from class, hand-wash routine, aprons on, kitchen rules.
- 2
The recipe brief
The session lead introduces the dish and the key technique of the week, following the plan set by Chef Dairo Lopez.
- 3
Hands-on cooking
In pairs or small teams, children prep, mix, roll, cut and cook — with proper adult support at each station.
- 4
Tasting & take-home
Everyone tastes what they've made. Where possible children take a portion home to share.
- 5
Tidy & reflect
A calm clean-down and a quick recap of what we learned this week.
- 6
Handover to parents
Children are handed over only to the named collector, at the agreed door.
What's included
- Chef-led session with qualified support staff
- All ingredients, aprons and equipment
- A short weekly recap for parents (recipes shared privately, not posted publicly)
- Allergen and dietary planning for every child
- Full safeguarding cover and DBS-checked adults
- Photo consent handled per parent's choice
