Apprentice Chef

N IS FOR NURSERY LTD

Bishop's Stortford (CM23 4AT)

Closes in 23 days (Sunday 16 August 2026)

Posted on 22 July 2026

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Contents

Summary

A fantastic opportunity has become available at N Family Day Nursery. They are looking for an Apprentice Chef to join their ‘Outstanding’ setting, to fit well within their friendly team and learn skills on-the-job whilst cooking fresh and inspiring food for our children.

Wage

£17,784 a year

Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

£17,784 per year £370 per week £8.55 per hour

Training course
Production chef (level 2)
Hours
Monday to Friday on a flexible shift patterns within the opening hours (7am-7pm); shifts to be confirmed.

40 hours a week

Start date

Tuesday 1 September 2026

Duration

1 year 3 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

We are looking for someone that wants to learn to create balanced, nutritious, and exciting menus.You will work in purpose-built kitchens in beautiful London nurseries. We will value you as a member of the team and support and coach you as you learn. 
Joining N is a chance for you to grow personally and professionally. To be successful in this role, you will; Go Beyond, Be Outstanding and Play as a Team. 

Day-to-day you will learn to: 

  • Cook fresh and inspiring food for our children from 7am-4pm, Monday-Friday.
  • Constantly develop and evolve our menu, but in a cost-effective manner.
  • Create fun and nutritional snacks/dishes for all children attending the nursery, including those with specific dietary requirements (3 snacks/meals a day).
  • Promote healthy messages and ideas around food.
  • Deliver best-in-class customer service and maintain a positive rapport with children and parents.
  • Monitor portions and waste control to maintain profit margins.
  • Ensure that all policies and procedures are in compliance with Environmental Health & Ofsted guidelines and that all relevant records are kept in line with Health and Safety and Food Hygiene Standards.

To become an apprentice, you must:

  • Be 16 or over
  • Not already be in full-time education
  • You can start an apprenticeship whether you’re starting your career, want a change, or if you're upskilling in your current job.
  • You can have a previous qualification like a degree and still start an apprenticeship.

As an apprentice, you’ll:

  • Have regular one to one session with a dedicated trainer either remotely or through visits to your workplace
  • Learn and train for a specific job
  • Get paid and receive holiday leave
  • Get hands-on experience in a real job
  • Study for at least 20% of your working hours
  • Complete assessments during and at the end of your apprenticeship
  • Be on a career path with lots of future potential
  • As an apprentice you will be included on a Level 2 Production Chef Apprenticeship 

Where you'll work

Thorley Wash Barn
London Road
Thorley,
Bishop's Stortford
CM23 4AT

Training

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

Training provider

BABCOCK SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING LIMITED

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

As an apprentice you will be included in a Level 2 Production Chef apprenticeship.

Apprenticeship standards are aimed at developing skills within the apprentice’s chosen career route, each standard has set knowledge, skills and behaviours required to be successful within the job role. This will include the completion of Functional Skills in maths and English.

Once the apprentice has completed a minimum of 12 months training and the employer and Inspiro's regional trainer confirm they have met all the requirements of the standard, they will be put through to end point assessment. The end point assessment is independent from the training and includes a variety of assessment methods which test the skills and knowledge of the apprentice to ensure they are fully competent in their role.

Each apprentice will be supported throughout the apprenticeship by a structured programme of teaching, e-learning, face to face training and workplace mentoring; this will encourage and help them to meet the requirements of the new standards and will prepare them for the end of point assessment.

You will achieve a Level 2 Production Chef qualification upon successful completion of the apprenticeship.

Requirements

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
  • Problem solving skills
  • Administrative skills
  • Logical
  • Team working
  • Creative
  • Initiative
  • Non judgemental
  • Patience
  • Passionate and positive
  • Interest in Cooking

Other requirements

What we can offer you: We don’t settle for people who can just do the job; we are looking for people that go beyond that and always push us to be better than yesterday. We believe that this is what makes N Family Club a great place to be - a space where you’re never far away from the best minds to learn from.

Our benefits package includes:

  • £17,784 annual salary
  • Funding & paid time off for training Level 2 Production Chef Apprenticeship
  • Up to 32 days holiday a year (including bank holidays) to start (rises with length of service)
  • Personal development fund of £250 per year
  • Annual clothing allowance of £100 (no uniform)
  • 10 days full sick pay, 2 days leave for dependents leave and 5 days compassionate leave
  • Paid overtime and training including 2 inset days per year
  • Childcare discount of 10%

There's more... 

  • Round the world trip and 2 weeks additional holiday for 5 years' service
  • Refer a friend bonus of £500 (plus other incentives) for existing and ex-employees
  • Free daily lunch, smoothies and coffee

Amazing well-being benefits including

  • Headspace membership, free counselling, 10% ClassPass membership discount, hardship fund, staff suggestion bonus
  • Promotion opportunities in a fast-growing company
  • Brilliant team culture, parties and celebrations

About this employer

★ 4.5 Glassdoor rating and N.1 highest quality, Outstanding nursery group in the UK Ofsted leaderboard! Would you like to join a fast growing nursery group with outstanding progression opportunities? We started with one nursery in 2017 and now have 20, and growing! Are you passionate about inspiring and developing the next generation to reach their full potential in this ever-changing world? At N Family Club, we’re rethinking careers in early years and challenging the way things are done in the sector. We empower you to reach your potential by supporting you with a mix of development initiatives and an unparalleled learning environment through our very own N Academy. We offer industry leading salaries, a refreshed approach to flexibility to ensure you have a positive work-life balance and a second-to-none benefit package.

https://nfamilyclub.com/nursery (opens in new tab)

After this apprenticeship

Your earnings can increase over time with an apprenticeship. Find out about potential future pay (opens in new tab).

  • This vacancy is for a position within N Family Nursery upon the successful completion of the apprenticeship programme

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

BABCOCK SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING LIMITED

Mike Hand

michael.hand@inspirolearning.co.uk

0116 504 0393

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000044229.

Apply now

Closes in 23 days (Sunday 16 August 2026)

After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.