CELEBRITY chef Gino D’Acampo caused a stir when he dropped into a local school's food technology class.

The TV favourite spent the afternoon at Titus Salt School in Shipley yesterday, helping students develop an authentic Italian menu and sampling their best pizzas.

He also gave a talk to several groups of pupils who were considering careers in catering.

Mr D'Acampo said: “It was a real treat to meet so many students here at Titus Salt School and to talk to them about cooking, careers in catering and my personal experiences that led me into a career as a chef."

He said he hoped by sharing his experiences, he had helped to inspire some of the pupils.

The trip was organised by the school's caterer, the Surrey-based company Innovate, which serves Gino’s Simply Fantastico range of dishes at the school each day.

In the food technology class, the Year 7 pupils worked in teams of two or three to design and make a creative pizza for Mr D'Acampo to sample.

He gave signed books out to the winning team of Alessandro Radl, Ryaan Sheikh and Louie Allen, all 11, who bowled him over with the strong flavours on their cheese, chilli and pepper pizza.

Allesandro said: "It’s been great having Gino here today. I have watched Gino on the television before, making lots of recipes, and it’s been fun having him here in our food tech class."