A PUPIL from St Polycarp’s Catholic Primary School needs the public to vote for his pea-culiar recipe as he represents Surrey in the final stage of a national cooking competition.

Jack Simms, aged 11, is one of five primary school category finalists in with a chance of being crowned the UK’s Young Pea Chef of the Year 2018.

Finalists will go head-to-head until voting closes on June 15, rallying up as much support as possible from friends, family and their community.

The competition is a Yes Peas! campaign, sponsored by The Ocado Foundation, which challenged children aged four to 16 to develop a creative and delicious recipe using frozen peas.

The young chef with the most votes will be crowned winner for their age group and will win a £500 donation from The Ocado Foundation to go towards ‘Grow Your Own’ projects for their school, as well as a personalised hamper to take home.

Jack said: “I love cooking and I am super excited that the judges liked my ‘Pea-culiar Crumble’ recipe, I hope others do too! I would love to win.”

His recipe beat off hundreds of hopefuls when it was selected as one of the final five by an expert panel of judges, including TV chef and Yes Peas! campaign ambassador Rachel Green, a representative from The British Growers Association, the Ocado Foundation’s Suzanne Westlake, and a representative from Fen Peas.

Rachel Green said: “I’m so pleased that parents and teachers supported the Yes Peas! campaign and encouraged children to enter. The standard this year is extremely high, and we’ve seen some really inspiring creations - I can’t wait to see who wins the vote.

“We’d like to congratulate Jack on being chosen as a finalist and hope Surrey residents show their support by voting for him.”

To vote, visit the Yes Peas! Facebook page at www.facebook.com/YesPeas, where there is information on all the finalists.