Chef de Partie

Salary: A remuneration package will be agreed depending on qualifications or experience.

Closing Date: 2025-11-19

Location: Stourbridge - DY8 1QX

Type: Permanent - Full Time

Description: Old Swinford Services Limited seeks to appoint a Chef de Partie to help manage the smooth and efficient operation of the kitchen to ensure the School’s reputation for food quality is maintained at all times.

About OSH: Old Swinford Hospital is one of the country’s leading state boarding schools. A large number of the School’s students are boarders who come from a wide range of backgrounds in the UK and also from the EU and overseas. A third of our pupils are day pupils, who usually go home after lessons, unless they are involved in sport or music, CCF or DofE. The School is now on an exciting journey to become fully co-educational by 2025. Girls joined us in September 2021 in Year 7, whilst the Sixth Form has been mixed since 2004. OSH is a calm place to work. It is inclusive, tolerant and welcoming. The atmosphere is supportive and orderly, and it is also very relaxed because for many of our pupils their school is also their home. Parents, pupils and staff are all on the same side and our pupils want to learn before going out into the wider world and making their own contribution to it. We have recently had two very favourable Ofsted visits, one for boarding and one for curriculum. You can see these via our website www.oshsch.com. We enjoy a very good academic reputation and regularly feature in the lists of the most academically successful maintained schools. We’re not about league tables, however. We pride ourselves on developing in our pupils a balance of academic achievement, character and resilience and we’ve been doing this now for nearly 360 years. Our extensive extra-curricular programme contributes to our pupils becoming happy, healthy and interested young people, for whom sport, music, art, drama, outdoor pursuits feature in their everyday lives. A major building programme has recently been completed which includes a large extension to an already impressive sports centre, an all-weather floodlit sports pitch, a new teaching block with a specialist arts room, a performing arts centre and a new senior boarding house.

Person Specification: The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following skills:

• Have catering experience with the interest to progress;
• Flair and passion for food;
• Have excellent culinary skills with an attention to detail;
• Basic experience, skills and achievements gained from working within a similar contract catering environment is essential;
• A creative thinker with sound knowledge of the current food trends;
• Have sound knowledge of hygiene, health and safety requirements;
• Self-motivated with the ability to work under pressure;
• A team player with experience of supervising a team;
• Planning and organisational skills in order to be able to run a busy food service area;
• A willingness to adopt a hands-on approach in a varied and demanding team environment to meet deadlines;
• Positive and professional attitude;
• Demonstrate a high standard of personal cleanliness and appearance;
• Polite manner in dealing with pupils and staff;
• Good oral communication skills.

Job Specification:

Overall Objectives: To help manage the smooth and efficient operation of the kitchen to ensure the School’s reputation for food quality is maintained at all times.

Reports to: Catering Manager

Specific Responsibilities:

• To plan, prepare, cook with fresh ingredients to produce home cooked foods and present food to the standards required by the school as required by Ofsted.
• To ensure that the School’s food is of a high quality for each meal time.
• To ensure that all School requirements for catering are met, ie pupil meals, events, meetings, lettings and functions.
• To control portion size and monitor waste.
• To ensure supplies are correctly issued, used and accounted for to carry out stock takes and food rotation procedures.
• To maintain records relating to food production activities and supplier information as required by the Catering Manager / School Bursar.
• To ensure Health and Safety and Food Safety Standards are maintained in line with School policy.
• To set objectives and be responsible for the day to day running of the kitchen including supervising the catering assistants.

Client Service:

• To ensure that students are given a prompt and efficient service and expectations are consistently exceeded.
• To be customer focused at all times, approachable and quick to exceed expectations in fulfilling customer needs.
• To ensure all food is cooked, presented and served in line with School standards, using innovation in the method and style of presentation and food service.
• To ensure that you deliver what you promise to the student, School and catering team.
• To ensure that all agreed service objectives are met in line with School budget.

People Management:

• To encourage the team by empowering them, supporting them, encouraging them and maintaining an ‘open door’ policy.
• To treat your team as you would expect to be treated.
• To ensure that all standards of food preparation and service are established and achieved in line with School budget.
• To participate on a weekly basis, a stock take.

Health & Safety and Food Safety:

• To ensure that the kitchen meets statutory and company requirements of Health and Safety, Food Safety and environment legislations and procedures.
• To conduct Food Safety and Health and Safety Risk Assessments and ensure that all standards and procedures with regard to Hygiene and Safety are established and maintained in line with the School manual.
• To ensure all equipment is well maintained and is in good working order.
• To establish and maintain location cleaning schedules.
• To ensure that all School procedures and work instructions are fully understood and practised by all employees.
• To attend all health and safety training courses as required.
• To promote and encourage environment improving initiative, as appropriate within the business.

Additional Responsibilities:

• To take responsibility for contributing towards your own development with the guidance of your Manager and attending training courses as identified.
• To show commitment to company values in all aspects of your role.
• To act as a positive ambassador for the business.
• To attend to any reasonable request made by the Catering Manager or Bursar.
• To assist / deputise for Catering Manager.
• To work additional hours when required by the School, these may be in term time or in holiday time.
• To do all other reasonable duties as requested by the Catering Manager / Bursar.

The School reserves the right to vary or amend the duties and shift patterns of the post holder at any time according to the needs of the School’s business. In exceptional circumstances the Post holder will be required to undertake other duties and responsibilities of a similar post in order to support workload peaks, skills shortages, to ensure priorities are met.

Hours of Work: This is a permanent appointment for 35 / 40 hours per week, term time (37 weeks) plus statutory holiday pay or all year round. The work pattern will include morning, evening and weekend shifts to suit the needs of the School.