Kitchen Assistant

Hours: 20 Hours per week

The Cambian Group is one of the largest providers of specialist behavioural health services for children and adults in the UK. Our work in the UK embraces many specialist services including children’s specialist education, children’s residential services, adult mental health, acquired brain injury and fostering services.

The Forum School

The Forum School and Residential Home is a 52-week residential and specialist school providing quality therapeutic care and education for young people with Autism, severe learning difficulties and challenging behaviour and complex needs. The children and young people that attend our school range between 7 and 19 years of age.

Brief Description of the Role

This role involves helping to produce regular meals that form a well-balanced and nutritionally sound diet for the students. It involves various tasks that are essential to making a kitchen an efficient and happy place to work. It requires high standards of hygiene and the ability to relate to colleagues and the young people who live here.  

Key Responsibilities:

• To attend work reliably and punctually and attend any training as required in a positive manner.
• To help prepare, cook, serve food and drinks and clean in the kitchen, as required, complying with all regulations relating to food preparation, cooking and storage.
• To maintain the highest standards of hygiene and cleanliness.
• To use all materials in an effective and economic way.
• Clearly and promptly keep any required records.
• Use all equipment and materials in a safe way, making sure that students/residents do not get hold of harmful tools or substances whilst you are using them. This includes ensuring that everything is stored securely in the correct place after use.
• Ensure that kitchen equipment is safe to use, maintained in working order and securely stored when not in use.
• To carry out, as and when required, any additional tasks and responsibilities as are reasonably compatible with this job description and its objectives.

Other Responsibilities

• Be observant and do everything possible to protect students/residents and others from abuse of a physical, emotional, sexual, neglectful, financial or institutional nature. This includes the need to report any incident of this type you witness, hear about or suspect.
• To ensure that all students, residents and colleagues have equal opportunities, to acknowledge their individual differences and uphold their rights and responsibilities, including the right not to be discriminated against, as set out in law and by Cambian Group policies.
• Contribute to good communication by checking communication books, noticeboards, diaries and your pigeon hole every time you are on duty to check for information you need to know; attending meetings as required and making sure you inform other people of things that are likely to be useful to them in their jobs.
• Take reasonable care for the health and safety of yourself and that of others. This implies taking positive steps to understand the hazards in the workplace, to comply with safety rules and procedures and to ensure that nothing you do, or fail to do, puts yourself or others at risk. This includes contributing to a safe and secure environment for students. This also includes checking that any person entering Cambian Group property has a right to do so and their visit is recorded in accordance with Cambian Group procedures.

Person Specification

• Knowledge of methods of cleaning different surfaces and safe working practices.
• Experience using equipment and materials in situations where care is needed to prevent harm to others.
• Ability to maintain positive relationships with young people and staff whilst working in a busy environment.
• Experience of working effectively as part of a team and also on your own initiative.

Requirements for an Enhanced DBS and reference checking will be undertaken in line with government regulations and safer recruitment best practice. Whilst we endeavour to keep the recruitment process as short as possible due to the nature of these important checks it may extend the processing time. All young people are equally entitled to have their needs met in a fair and balanced way. Cambian Group employees are responsible for promoting equal opportunities for all and for challenging behaviour or practice which discriminates against any young person or colleague on the grounds of race, religion, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation or any other perceived difference.

We will conduct online searches of shortlisted candidates. This check will be part of a safeguarding check, and the search will be purely based on whether an individual is suitable to work with children. As care must be taken to avoid unconscious bias and any risk of discrimination a person who will not be on the appointment panel will conduct the search and will only share information if and when findings are relevant and of concern.