The winner of the competition, run in partnership with McCain Foods, is Sandra Jackson, Catering Manager from Werneth High School in Bredbury. Sandra, who received £100 of High Street Vouchers, was chosen as the winner by local judges after they tasted her Gyros - a Greek dish.

The number of entries to the School Cook's Recipe Challenge was astounding and showed that school food can be both appealing and healthy. The winning recipe demonstrated this perfectly, with its broad appeal to secondary school pupils; taste and creative use of McCain Purely Potato Wedges.

The rules of the competition were simple. School Cooks were asked to create recipes for lunch or break time and had to follow food based guidelines and were asked to use one of the McCain Purely Potato products manufactured especially for schools. The Purely Potato range is not fried and is extremely versatile - so cooks could use it as an ingredient or a great tasting side dish to any meal.

Other Catering Managers highly commended during the judging process included Alison Reti from St Anne's RC in Heaton Chapel and Janet Brown from Stockport School.

The competition took place throughout the winter term and all secondary school cooks in the region could enter as many dishes as they wished on behalf of their school.

Nic Cox, Managing Director of Solutions SK, added: "Solutions SK is truly committed to providing excellent school meals in Stockport and we are delighted to support this competition. It is great to recognise the truly talented catering staff within Solutions SK, who work so hard to provide children with the meals they like within the current food based standards."

Adrian Greaves, McCain Foodservice Associate Director, said: "The competition was a great success and we would like to thank all those who took part. The 'School Cook's Recipe Challenge' provided our school meals teams with a great opportunity to demonstrate their abilities and creativity when faced with the task of providing pupils with a selection of appealing and nutritious meals."