Food tech students at a Bishop's Stortford school are hoping to become brill at using and handling fish.

Year 9, 10 and 11 girls at Herts and Essex High in Warwick Road have taken their plaice in a scheme called Fish Heroes.

Their teacher, Mrs Borman, hooked them up with the initiative, which is angling to promote awareness of, and familiarity with, fish in schools, ensuring that no child is left floundering and gets a chance to prepare, cook and eat fish before they leave school.

Herts and Essex netted funding through the scheme so it can shell out for a variety of fish for its students, who have been getting to grips with filleting and preparing fish for recipes such as coley fishcakes and soy glazed mackerel.

Teachers taking part are supported by local 'fish heroes': fishmongers, fish-loving chefs and fish suppliers, among others, who go into schools to talk about their role in bringing seafood from the sea to the plate, highlighting careers and opportunities in the fish industry.

The Stortford school has landed James Ackroyd at Potter Street Fishmongers, housed within Eat 17, who supplies the fish Mrs Borman needs for her lessons.

The school hopes the scheme will be good for the sole and that any girl who is hard of herring will be left breaming with confidence.

Fish Heroes is managed by Food Teachers Centre, an online platform for over 7,500 secondary school teachers to share best practice, advise and support less experienced staff and keep abreast of curriculum changes.