Inspiring the Next Generation of Bakers at Bulmershe

On Wednesday 11th February, the Bulmershe School Food Tech rooms were filled with the aroma of freshly baked sponge! We were delighted to host the 2026 Woodley Cluster Year 5 Bake Off, welcoming talented young bakers from Beechwood, Highwood, St Dominic Savio and Willowbank primary schools.

A Taste of Secondary School Life

The Woodley Cluster believe that the transition from primary to secondary school should be an exciting journey and events like the Year 5 Bake Off are a cornerstone of Bulmershe transition programme, allowing Year 5 students to spend a day in a secondary school environment.

By using our specialist Food Technology rooms, these young students can get a "literal" taste of what life at Bulmershe is like. 

Our Year 9 Transition Leads

While the cakes were the stars of the show, our Year 9 Transition Lead students, Keerthana P, Inaaya A, Ayesha M, Tatiana P, Prajesh T, Joseph D, Nathan S and Joseph N acted as ambassadors for the school, proving once again why our student leaders are so special.

These Year 9s were praised by visiting staff for their maturity, warmth and encouragement. They spent the day cheering on the Year 5 teams, offering advice and ensuring that every visitor felt at home. Beyond the competition, they also showed incredible work ethic by staying behind to help Miss Keenan with the task of washing up and cleaning the kitchens. Thank you so much!

The Cakes

The theme for 2026 saw an incredible array of cake-based masterpieces, making the judges' task nearly impossible. Every participant should be immensely proud of the talent and imagination they showed throughout the day.

In third place, St Dominic Salvo's Tree Stump was both delicious and gave a serious message about deforestation. In Second was Beechwood's Fort of Hearts - which looked and tasted professionally made.

However, a special congratulations must go to the creators of the "Wonka" cake, also from St Dominic Salvo.. Not only was it a visual spectacle, but it was also a genuine feat of engineering!

Building a Community

We would like to thank Mrs Andrews and Miss Keenan for their meticulous organisation of the event and the staff from our Woodley Cluster primary schools for their continued partnership.

We hope the Year 5 students returned home not just with platefuls of cake, but with a newfound confidence about their future move to secondary school. We look forward to seeing many of these faces again in the coming years as they begin their own Bulmershe journey.