Catering Assistant Apprentice

Summary

Join a busy school kitchen as a Catering Assistant Apprentice, helping prepare and serve meals. Work with the team using set recipes and menus. Ideal for someone passionate about food and confident in communicating with staff, students, and visitors.

Wage

Competitive

Competitive wage offered

Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

For the first year of your apprenticeship, you will be paid the National Minimum Wage for an Apprentice (£7.55)

Training course

Production chef (level 2)

Hours

Monday - Friday, 07:30 - 14:00 - term time (38 weeks per annum). 30 minuets lunch break included.

30 hours a week

Start date

Monday 15 September 2025

Duration

1 year 5 months

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

Prepare meals, in accordance with agreed recipes and methods
Operate tills
Present food to a high standard
Have knowledge of key nutrient groups and specific dietary needs
Serve food to staff and students, adhering to portion controls
Contribute ideas for special events such as themed days
Ensure the maintenance of a clean and orderly working environment
Undertake basic record keeping as requires
Assist in the monitoring and arrangement of orderly and secure storage of supplies
Operate catering equipment in accordance with instructions
Assist in allergen labelling

Where you'll work

30 Shiphay Lane
Torquay
TQ2 7DY

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

College or training organisation

SOUTH DEVON COLLEGE

Your training course

Production chef (level 2)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents

Prepare and cook pre-portioned fresh and frozen meat, fish, and poultry to business standards.
Prepare and cook fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables to business standards.
Prepare salad vegetables to business standards.
Cook poached, simmered, steamed, boiled, braised, stewed, baked, grilled, and fried dishes.
Regenerate dried and frozen ingredients and dishes.
Undertake stock control, storage, and rotation.
Communicate professionally with colleagues, line managers, stakeholders, and customers.
Work as part of a team to support service delivery.
Follow specifications to produce, portion, and present food.
Manage own time to ensure allocated tasks are completed.
Use techniques for maintaining good mental health and wellbeing to support self and others, including asking for and giving help with daily tasks.
Use feedback to improve own performance.
Prepare and close down an area for service.
Use problem solving techniques to resolve routine and non-routine issues within scope of own role.
Maintain prep and par levels according to business need.
Clean and maintain manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, and technology.
Follow standard operating procedures to select and safely use appropriate knives and boards for the task, for example red handled knife and red board for raw meat.
Monitor and record food temperatures and manage allergens during preparation, cooking, holding, and serving.
Apply hygiene management techniques to maintain a safe clean work environment, for example COSHH, personal hygiene, and uniform.
Reduce the waste of resources, acting to measure and reduce plate waste, exercise portion control, and maximise yield.
Comply with health and safety legislation, regulations, guidelines and procedures, including stress management.
Follow equity, diversity, and inclusion legislation and organisational policies.
Deliver to key performance indicators to support the production, performance, and budget within own area of responsibility.
Use manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, machinery, and technology.
Prepare and cook pre-portioned fresh and frozen meat, fish, and poultry to business standards.
Prepare and cook fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables to business standards.
Prepare salad vegetables to business standards.
Cook poached, simmered, steamed, boiled, braised, stewed, baked, grilled, and fried dishes.
Regenerate dried and frozen ingredients and dishes.
Undertake stock control, storage, and rotation.
Communicate professionally with colleagues, line managers, stakeholders, and customers.
Work as part of a team to support service delivery.
Follow specifications to produce, portion, and present food.
Manage own time to ensure allocated tasks are completed.
Use techniques for maintaining good mental health and wellbeing to support self and others, including asking for and giving help with daily tasks.
Use feedback to improve own performance.
Prepare and close down an area for service.
Use problem solving techniques to resolve routine and non-routine issues within scope of own role.
Maintain prep and par levels according to business need.
Clean and maintain manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, and technology.
Follow standard operating procedures to select and safely use appropriate knives and boards for the task, for example red handled knife and red board for raw meat.
Monitor and record food temperatures and manage allergens during preparation, cooking, holding, and serving.
Apply hygiene management techniques to maintain a safe clean work environment, for example COSHH, personal hygiene, and uniform.
Reduce the waste of resources, acting to measure and reduce plate waste, exercise portion control, and maximise yield.
Comply with health and safety legislation, regulations, guidelines and procedures, including stress management.
Follow equity, diversity, and inclusion legislation and organisational policies.
Deliver to key performance indicators to support the production, performance, and budget within own area of responsibility.
Use manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, machinery, and technology.

Your training plan

Day release will be given to attend South Devon College, undertaking practical and theory
A full induction process will be undertaken in school to include health and safety and safeguarding and on-the-job training will be given in-house to enable you to learn all aspects relevant to the job

More training information

You will attend South Devon College, on the Production Chef Level 2 Apprenticeship, one day per week to further develop your knowledge and progress.

The topics that you will cover include:

Techniques for preparing, assembling, cooking, regenerating and presenting food
Key nutrient groups and adapting dishes to specific dietary needs
Industry specific regulations, legislation and health and safety procedures
Communicating effectively with colleagues, line manager and customers
The importance of sustainability and working to protect the environment
How to identify personal goals and development opportunities

Requirements

Desirable qualifications

GCSE in:

English (grade 4/C)
Maths (grade 4/C)

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Communication skills
Attention to detail
Organisation skills
Problem solving skills
Presentation skills
Logical
Team working
Creative
Initiative
Patience

About this company

Torquay Girls’ Grammar School is a girls’ 11 to 16 selective Single Academy Trust, with a mixed Sixth Form (16 to 18), located in Torquay, Devon. Our status as a Single Academy Trust means that we have the freedom to implement a curriculum intent which focusses on the whole child: to equip students for a future in which they have the academic qualifications, character skills and self-esteem to make decisions that lead to long, happy and content lives. Our school is founded on our core values which apply to our whole community: equality, open minded, kindness, collaboration, and well-being. When Ofsted visited in November 2023, our hard work was recognised by achieving ‘Outstanding’ in every category of the Ofsted Framework. This is no mean feat, and we are incredibly proud of this achievement. Our academic results are consistently high - in the 2025 Sunday Times Schools Guide, we ranked 3rd in Devon and 99th nationally for academic results - which is true testament to the continued dedication from both our students and staff. Our school is a place where students want to learn and there is a deeply engrained sense of belonging and identity to the school’s history, values and traditions. Staff and pupils fully embrace our House Culture and the opportunities for extra curricular activities and trips.

After this apprenticeship

After completing a catering apprenticeship, you can progress into roles such as Catering Assistant, Catering Supervisor or Catering Manager. These roles offer greater responsibility, including managing teams, planning menus and overseeing kitchen operations

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

SOUTH DEVON COLLEGE

01803 653751

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000327604.

Apply now

Closes in 11 days (Monday 7 July 2025)

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