Kitchen Assistant

Action-For-Children; Stone Cross; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 29,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days + bank holidays (pro rata)

Staff discounts portal

Salaried finance advice

Childcare discount 60%

Up to 3 days dependency leave

Maternity, adoption, and paternity pay

Pension with up to 7% employer contrib

Job summary

Action for Children is seeking a Nursery Kitchen Assistant for our Sandwich, Kent nursery. You will support meal planning, food prep, and serving healthy meals for young children, while managing stock and ensuring high hygiene standards.

A pro rata annual salary is offered for part-time hours, with opportunities for training and benefits included. Ideal candidates have catering experience, stock-management skills, and knowledge of healthy eating.

Qualifications

• Ideal candidate with catering experience and stock management.
• Knowledge of healthy eating and balanced menus.
• Excellent organisational skills and hygiene awareness.
• Willingness to work towards a recognised food hygiene certificate.

Responsibilities

• Assist in planning meals and preparation for children.
• Prepare and serve healthy snacks, lunch and tea.
• Check food orders and ensure timely delivery.
• Maintain hygiene and safety standards in the kitchen.
• Manage stock levels and place orders as needed.
• Keep kitchen clean and equipment maintained.

Skills

Catering experience

Stock management

Healthy eating knowledge

Organisational skills

Food hygiene cert (towards)

Education

Food hygiene certificate (level 2/3)

Job description

Job title: Kitchen Assistant
Salary: £26,610 per annum (pro rata)
Location: Sandwich, Kent
Contract/Hours: Permanent/Part time – 36 hours per week

Benefits:

• Time off to recharge– 25 days per annum plus bank holidays(pro rata)
• Treat yourself:Staff discounts portal and blue light card with 15,000 + retailers.
• Salary Finance – access tofinancial advice and the ability to manage savings or loans directly from your salary.
• Childcare Discount –A whopping 60% off childcare within our nurseries and out of school clubs
• Up to 3 Days Dependency Leave –to care for dependents in an emergency.
• Paid maternity, adoption, and paternity leave.
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities.
• Secure your future:Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover.

A bit abouttherole

We're looking for Nursery Kitchen assistant to join the team at Spring. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who would like to take the next step in their career into a larger or commercial kitchen who's ready to take on a rewarding role helping to preparing nutritious, tasty meals for young children every day.

As our Kitchen assistant, you'll help assist with planning meals, preparation and serving of healthy snacks, lunch and tea for children attending our Nursery. You'll help manage stock levels, place food orders, and always maintain excellent hygiene and safety standards.

What you do could make a difference

• Work with our Nursery Cook planning healthy meals that are nutritious, varied and tasty, considering the children's dietary and cultural requirements.
• Assist in the preparation and cooking.
• Check food orders and make sure they are in on time.
• Ensure that the food is served to all Nursery rooms promptly and dietary requirements are catered for.
• Keeping waste to a minimum, ensuring our impact on the environment is as minimal as it can be, and costs are kept low.
• Ensuring that kitchen equipment is maintained regularly and maintaining a tidy, clean and hygienic area at the end of each day.
• Always follow the latest legislation in relation to food and food hygiene and taking part in all necessary and required training as needed.

Let’stalk about you.

In the role of Nursery Kitchen assistant, we're ideally looking for someone who has:

• Hold or be willing to work towards a recognised food hygiene certificate.
• Previous experience within a catering environment.
• Previous experience of stock management.
• Knowledge of healthy eating and providing a balanced menu.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Experience in a similar role working in a catering environment.

About the Service

Spring St Barts is a large, welcoming nursery with a friendly and supportive staff team. Although the setting is spacious, the rooms offer a real home-from-home feel, creating calm nurturing spaces for the children. The nursery provides a varied and engaging curriculum, including regular enrichment sessions and outdoor learning opportunities, giving children a rich and enjoyable early years’ experience.

About Spring

Spring offers award-winning childcare services, as part of the national charity Action for Children. It's our mission to be the best provider of outstanding quality early education to children throughout the UK, that is accessible to all. We are focused on enabling young people to learn, have fun and make friends in our bright, engaging settings. That starts with creating a happy environment for our team. Join us and you can look forward to:

• A kind, caring culture with an emphasis on wellbeing, both physical and mental.
• Flexible working – wherever possible we offer flexibility on hours and/or hybrid working.
• Lots of opportunities for training, learning, development, including gaining qualifications.
• Excellent benefits that compare favourably to other employers in our sector.

Our Commitment to Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism

At Spring Nurseries, we are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels respected, valued, and able to thrive. We know that racism and discrimination create barriers, and we are taking active steps to challenge these inequalities in our organisation and in the communities we serve.

We strongly welcome applications from people who are Black, Asian, or from other racialised and ethnically marginalised communities, as well as disabled people, who are currently under-represented in our workforce. We are committed to removing barriers in our recruitment processes and ensuring fair access to opportunities.

We also encourage applications from men, who are under-represented in our Children’s Services roles. We recognise that people hold multiple identities, and we value the richness this brings to our team.

Whether this is a career change for you or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you.

We work together to reach our mission to give children a healthy start in life.

Good luck! We can't wait to hear from you.

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See below for further information about working with us:

Job Descriptionn

Spring Early Years Career Pathway