FRUIT smoothies and healthy dips were on the menu as Oxfordshire schoolchildren were taught the basics of how to cook.

Ten schools in the county have signed up to a Government initiative aimed at teaching healthy cooking skills to children, with the intention that the youngsters will then share their skills with their community.

Each has been given money towards buying equipment and for running costs.

The project was launched at South Oxford Community Centre, in Lake Street, where club leaders demonstrated how to make the healthy snacks.

Dawn Hervin, teaching assistant at Tower Hill Primary School in Witney, brought six Year Five pupils to the event.

She said: “I am really looking forward to the club starting properly next year.

“They will be learning cooking techniques like how to cut, how to chop, how to rub in, how to whisk etc and we will be make lots of healthy stuff, things like shepherds’ pie, spaghetti bolognaise, couscous and flapjacks.”

The scheme will run for three years, with each school getting £500 to set up the club, then £500 a year running costs.

As well as the after-school sessions, each school must organise at least three community events.

Emma Rigsby, who has two children, Lucy, eight, and Tony, 10, at the school, will be helping run the sessions from September.

She said: “It was a fantastic launch – the kids absolutely loved it.

“I think it is great for the children to come up with ideas for cooking and to cook with their parents, and I hope to see them getting enthusiastic about cooking.”

The other Oxfordshire schools involved are Bayards Hill Primary, Oxford, Blewbury Primary, Eynsham Primary Middle Barton Primar, RAF Benson Primary, St Birinus School in Didcot, St James Primary in East Hanney, The Marlborough School, Woodstock, and The Manor School, Abingdon.