School Cook

At OFG, we work smarter so you can spend more time doing the things you love! 

Job Title:            School Cook  

Location:       Willow Park School, Milton Keynes

Salary:                £18,000 per annum (Actual Take Home Pay, Pre-Tax) 

Hours:         40 hours per week 

Contract:            Permanent

Can you enrich the lives of children as a school cook? 

This is an exciting opportunity for an established cook/developing cook who is wanting to develop their career in both their area of expertise and broaden their work skills to developing and enriching the minds of our young adults in this field. Willow Park School is due to open in September 2023 which is when this position would be expected to start

About the role

We are looking for a school cook to join our new team at Willow Park School. This is an exciting new opportunity where you will help support our children in their daily lives, ensuring they are well fed, comfortable, and healthy as well as coaching our students who have an interest in pursuing cooking as an employability skill.

This is a great opportunity to work as part of a team committed to helping children with varied and complex needs. You will oversee all aspects of catering at school, in particular the lunch-time meal for pupils and colleagues and a mid-morning snack, in addition to ensuring that hygiene and safety protocols are implemented to the highest standards.

Our Cooks carry out an essential and role to provide meals required by the children and young people in our care. You will play an important part in the development of healthy habits and enjoyment of mealtimes for our learners. For many of our children, consistency is key, and our Schools Cooks take time to make sure everything is as it should be for a smooth lunchtime service and take pride in ensuring that hygiene and safety protocols are implemented to the highest standards.

Quality is always top of our agenda and we pride ourselves on the quality of what we do. We are looking for a School Cook who shares our vision to build incredible futures by empowering vulnerable young people in the UK, to be happy and to make their way in the world.

Responsibilities:

• To plan menus for the school with reference to the dietary needs of the students
• To undertake the ordering and monitoring of stocks by date rotation, portion control and quality and in accordance with the budgetary controls set
• To set up and clean down the kitchen and cafe areas before and after day-to-day use
• To ensure that necessary preparation is undertaken for the day/weekly demand/needs of the college
• To be observant of the need to minimise waste
• To provide suitable food to students with special dietary requirements
• Check daily any visitor, staff and student meal time requirements
• To personally observe all measures relating to Health and Safety, hygiene and food hygiene requirements
• To report on any equipment or maintenance requirements
• To prepare and place food orders and to deal with any enquiries and complaints to suppliers
• To ensure that supplies are ordered and are properly checked on delivery and that invoices are accurate
• To ensure all equipment and chemicals are used and handled correctly at all times, in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions and COSHH Regulations
• To keep relevant records and reports accurate and up to date
• To respond timely and with flexibility to urgent or last-minute staff/students requirements
• To report any defeats, damage, theft, breakages or hazards to relevant staff immediately
• Work with students as a job coach helping them gain work, practical and independence skills.
• To assist teachers to deliver lessons as necessary

Why join Acorn Education & Care?

Benefits

Your health and wellbeing are important to us, so you’ll get an exceptional reward package including:

• Life Assurance
• Pension scheme with options to increase your contributions
• “Your Wellbeing Matters” – access to a wide range of first-class mental health support services and physical health checks

And a market-leading benefit offering through our Flexible Benefits Platform, Vista, enables you to choose the package that’s right for you, including:

• A wide range of health, wellbeing, and insurance benefits
• 100’s of discount options valid in the UK and abroad
• Cycle to Work Schemes
• Electric Car Purchase Scheme
• Critical illness cover

And that’s not all, we place the outcomes of the children and vulnerable young adults in our services at the heart of everything we do, so you’ll wake every day in the knowledge that your role will have a significant positive impact on the lives of others.

We are committed to the safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All successful applicants will be subject to a fully enhanced DBS.