At a Glance
- Tasks: Manage school catering, ensuring high-quality meals and compliance with health standards.
- Company: St Francis CofE Primary School, dedicated to promoting healthy eating.
- Benefits: 30 hours a week, 39 weeks a year, with a supportive school environment.
- Why this job: Make a positive impact on children's health and well-being through nutritious meals.
- Qualifications: NVQ3 in catering and valid food hygiene certificates required.
- Other info: Opportunity to lead a team and enhance the school's reputation for quality food.
The predicted salary is between 24000 - 36000 £ per year.
The purpose of this post is to manage the School Catering facilities and to ensure that the service provided meets the required standards, achieving a consistent high standard demonstrated by customer satisfaction. Ensuring that the school and SBC Healthy Eating Policies are implemented to provide a nutritious, healthy and balanced diet and promote lifelong healthy eating habits.
Responsibilities / Accountabilities:
- Lead and manage the catering service, including the catering team, premises, budget control, meal production, and service delivery, ensuring full compliance with all statutory requirements, including food hygiene and health and safety regulations.
- Enhance and maintain the school’s reputation for high-quality food provision and the promotion of healthy eating.
- Prepare, monitor, control, and report on the catering budget, including income, expenditure, and productivity.
- Plan, order, receive, store and control all food, beverages, snacks, and non-consumable supplies, ensuring correct portion control, stock rotation, menu planning, costing, and the provision of special dietary requirements as necessary.
- Undertake and oversee skilled cooking activities to deliver healthy, nutritionally balanced menus that meet Government national nutritional standards for school meals.
- Organise and supervise food service areas, including service for lunches, breakfast clubs, mid‑morning breaks, functions, and, where required, the transportation of meals.
- Supervise catering staff, including duty allocation, rota management, recruitment, induction, performance management, training, and supervision of permanent and temporary staff, ensuring all relevant documentation is completed.
- Ensure high standards of hygiene and cleanliness across the kitchen and service areas, including the implementation and monitoring of HACCP procedures, routine cleaning schedules, equipment condition reporting, and arranging repairs where necessary.
- Manage all health and safety requirements, including COSHH, risk assessments, manual handling, and the accurate daily recording of food temperatures.
- Maintain accurate and timely records relating to stock control, food wastage, ordering, turnover, arrears, and productivity.
- Conduct monthly quality audits, reporting findings and remedial actions to the Business Manager and Head Teacher.
- Plan, coordinate, and evaluate termly customer satisfaction surveys, developing and implementing action plans and sharing outcomes with relevant stakeholders.
- Plan, develop, and deliver daily and weekly themed promotions to support meal uptake and income targets, especially around census day.
- Actively market and promote the catering service, including the preparation of promotional materials.
- Support and promote the school ethos, including a positive approach to behaviour management.
Supplementary Accountabilities:
- Be aware of and comply with policies and procedures relating to child protection, health, safety, security and confidentiality, reporting all concerns to an appropriate person.
- Contribute to the overall ethos/work/aims of the school.
- Appreciate and support the role of other professionals.
- Attend relevant meetings as required.
- Participate in training and other learning activities and performance development as required.
- Comply with health and safety policies and procedures at all times.
- Treat all users of the school with courtesy and consideration.
- Present a positive personal image, contributing to a welcoming school environment which supports equal opportunities.
Reporting structure: The catering manager will report to the Headteacher of the school.
Working conditions: 30 hours a week, 39 weeks a year.
Location: St Francis CofE Primary School, SN25 1UH.
Person Specification:
- Qualifications and Training: NVQ3 or equivalent in catering (Essential). A valid food hygiene certificate and advanced food hygiene certificate or working towards this (Essential).
- Experience: Experience of leading catering teams (Desirable). Experience of financial procedures and producing management information for stakeholders (Desirable). Previous experience of providing catering for 300-400 covers in similar environments (Essential).
- Knowledge & Skills: Knowledge of specialist diets for health conditions, allergies, cultural and religious backgrounds (Essential).
School Kitchen Manager employer: Career Choices Dewis Gyrfa Ltd
Contact Detail:
Career Choices Dewis Gyrfa Ltd Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land School Kitchen Manager
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the catering and education sectors. We all know someone who knows someone, so don’t be shy about asking for introductions or advice.
✨Tip Number 2
Get your game face on for interviews! Research the school’s catering policies and think about how you can enhance their reputation for high-quality food. Show them you’re the perfect fit for their team!
✨Tip Number 3
Be ready to showcase your skills! If you get the chance, offer to do a trial shift or a cooking demonstration. This is your moment to shine and prove you can whip up those nutritious meals they’re after.
✨Tip Number 4
Apply through our website! It’s super easy and ensures your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, we love seeing candidates who take that extra step to connect with us directly.
We think you need these skills to ace School Kitchen Manager
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for Healthy Eating: When writing your application, let us know why you care about healthy eating and how you can promote it in our school. Share any personal experiences or ideas you have that align with our ethos of providing nutritious meals.
Highlight Your Leadership Skills: As a School Kitchen Manager, you'll be leading a team. Make sure to showcase your experience in managing teams, whether it's through previous roles or relevant projects. We want to see how you can inspire and motivate others!
Be Specific About Your Experience: Don’t just list your past jobs; tell us about specific achievements and challenges you've faced in catering. Use numbers and examples to illustrate your impact, especially if you've catered for large groups before.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the easiest way for us to receive your application and ensures you don’t miss out on any important updates from us during the process!
How to prepare for a job interview at Career Choices Dewis Gyrfa Ltd
✨Know Your Menu Inside Out
Before the interview, make sure you’re familiar with the types of meals you’ll be preparing and serving. Research healthy eating guidelines and be ready to discuss how you can implement these in your role as a School Kitchen Manager.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
Be prepared to talk about your experience managing teams. Think of specific examples where you’ve successfully led a catering team, handled staff training, or improved service delivery. This will demonstrate your capability to manage the kitchen effectively.
✨Understand Budget Management
Brush up on your financial skills! Be ready to discuss how you would plan and control a catering budget. Share any past experiences where you’ve managed costs while maintaining quality, as this is crucial for the role.
✨Highlight Your Compliance Knowledge
Familiarise yourself with food hygiene regulations and health and safety standards relevant to school catering. Be ready to explain how you ensure compliance in your kitchen, as this is a key responsibility of the role.