Tempura vegetables with a chilli dipping sauce and a spicy red Thai curry was the winning dish in a MasterChef-style cooking competition.

The culinary contest took place at Dereham's Neatherd High School this week as part of its Food for Life programme.

Each of the ten teams had a teacher and a pupil, including head teacher Peter Devonish, and the task was to cook up the best curry.

The dishes were judged by teacher Will Clennell, co-ordinator of the Food for Life scheme at Neatherd High.

He said: 'Everyone was encouraged to do things from scratch - curry sauces were banned.'

The winning dish was cooked by Rachel Adams, an assistant cover supervisor who teaches food technology, and Jesse Gough, 16, a GCSE catering student.

Mr Clennell said: 'It was great fun because lots of people were involved and the staff and pupil teams work well together. The standard was excellent. I could have finished all of the food and I would happily paid for the winning one in a restaurant.'

A Food for Life cooking competition, involving teachers and students, is held at the school each term and the next one in May will be based on Norfolk recipes and ingredients.

The school received the Food for Life silver award last summer - only 15 secondary schools in England have that accolade.

Mr Clennell said the focus of the scheme was to encourage pupils to learn more about food and where it comes from.