Apprentice Chef

JIGSAWS CHILDCARE LTD

Tadcaster (LS24 9RF)

Closes on Thursday 30 April 2026

Posted on 23 March 2026

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Summary

Jigsaws Childcare is a full day nursery providing care for children aged between 9 months and 11 years. We are looking to recruit 2 apprentice chefs to help our team ensure the children receive healthy meals and make the right food choices.

Wage

£20,311 a year

Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

16-20 year olds will be paid £10.85 per hour, 21+ will be paid £12.80 per hour.  

Training course
Production chef (level 2)
Hours
You will have a 2-week working pattern: Monday (term time) attendance at York College 9am - 4.30pm, Tuesday to Friday 7.30am - 2.30pm (week 1) 11am - 6pm (week 2).

36 hours a week

Start date

Monday 18 May 2026

Duration

1 year 3 months

Positions available

2

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

Main responsibilities:

  • As an apprentice within our kitchen team, you will assist in preparing meals from scratch for the children
  • You will be responsible for ensuring that all children’s allergies, intolerances, and preferences are taken into account
  • You will support both the kitchen team and nursery practitioners by distributing meals to the nursery rooms and ensuring that clean crockery and cutlery are always available
  • You will be required to store food deliveries correctly, following our stock rotation procedures at all times
  • You will be consulted on changes to menus and any improvements that could be made
  • You will contribute ideas for developing menus, particularly for special occasions or celebrations which form part of the nursery’s curriculum
  • You will participate in both opening and closing checks, as well as cleaning kitchen appliances
  • You are responsible for ensuring that all required records are maintained and updated daily
  • You will be expected to prepare food for events such as open days and parents’ evenings, helping to promote our nursery
  • You must follow all nursery policies and procedures, and adhere to our safeguarding requirements at all times

Where you'll work

Main Street
Church Fenton
Tadcaster
LS24 9RF

Training

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

Training provider

YORK COLLEGE

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.

Training schedule

You will attend York College one day per week during term time and the remainder of your working hours and training time will be spent in the workplace

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

  • any other subject (grade 3)
  • English (grade 3)
  • Maths (grade 3)

Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Skills

  • Communication skills
  • Attention to detail
  • Organisation skills
  • Customer care skills
  • Team working
  • Initiative

Other requirements

  • You will be required to pass a DBS check for this role
  • We welcome applications from candidates who currently live within one hour's commuting distance
  • As part of the application process, you will receive an email from York College that requires a response; check your spam folder, too

About this employer

Jigsaws Childcare is a full day nursery providing care for children aged between 9 months and 11 years. Our ethos is centred on giving every child the best possible start in life. This is achieved through our commitment to outdoor learning, the Forest Schools approach, and by ensuring the children receive healthy meals and make the right food choices.

https://www.jigsawschildcare.co.uk/ (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

Company pension scheme; access to our Simply Health Scheme is provided; staff meals are provided free of charge; staff nursery scheme is available, offering a 75% discount for children of staff members attending the nursery.

After this apprenticeship

  • Upon successful completion of the apprenticeship, we will discuss the possibility of an ongoing role with Jigsaws

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

YORK COLLEGE

apprenticeships@yorkcollege.ac.uk

01904 770368

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000022338.

Apply now

Closes on Thursday 30 April 2026