Kitchen Managers - Hope Wood Academy

North East Jobs; Easington; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a dedicated team at a leading educational trust as a Kitchen Manager. This role involves overseeing school kitchens to provide nutritious meals for students with special educational needs. Candidates should possess strong management skills and a commitment to student welfare. This is a permanent position with an appealing salary package and opportunities for professional development.

Benefits

Comprehensive induction programme

Wellbeing and support package

Qualifications

• 2 years experience in managing a catering environment.
• Willing to undertake a skills test.
• Commitment to professional development.

Responsibilities

• Ensure young people have access to healthy and nutritious food.
• Support young people developing dietary habits.
• Manage busy school kitchens.

Skills

Catering Management

Attention to Detail

Communication

Teamwork

Flexibility

Education

GCSE A*-C in Maths and English or Equivalent

Job description

Together we build brighter futures for our young people with special educational needs. Founded in 2012, The Ascent Academies’ Trust is a family of five special academies in the North of England, over four different local authorities. We are a collaborative group of academies who work closely with one another in order to achieve the best outcomes for our young people. As a result, our academies have improved year on year and all academies are currently at least Good from an Ofsted rating, with some individual areas rated outstanding. This is an exciting time to join our Trust as we look to set out our next steps in creating brilliant schools. We are an ethical Trust whose vision and values are aligned to equality and diversity, collaboration and lifelong learning.



Post: Kitchen Manager

Scale: Grade F, SCP10 - SCP14

Hours/ weeks: 37hours/ 39 weeks per year

Salary: £23,602 – £25,180 (actual paid salary)

Contract term: Permanent

Location: Hope Wood Academy



We are looking for two kitchen managers to work in our busy school kitchens, you will be working alongside our chef/lecturer who leads the catering service across two school sites. You will be passionate about ensuring young people have access to healthy and nutritious food which meets their dietary and sensory needs. You will be hardworking, flexible and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment. It is important that young people know where their food comes from and to develop good dietary habits which will serve them well into adulthood. Our kitchen's also serve as training kitchens for young people with special educational needs therefore you must be willing and able to support our young people to develop in a real-life kitchen environment.



Candidates will possess GCSE A*-C or equivalent including Maths and English or equivalent or be willing to undertake a skills test as part of the interview process. You will also have 2 years experience of managing within a catering environment.



What we need:

An individual with a passion for working in the catering service of a multi-academy trust

An enthusiastic and positive approach

Commitment to own professional development including the completion of an external qualification during the course of the traineeship Consistently high expectations and aspirations for our young people and yourself

Someone with strong attention to detail, thoroughness and a high level of integrity

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

Complete commitment to the core values of Ascent



We can offer you:

An exciting opportunity to develop within this role

Comprehensive induction programme

Opportunity to work in settings which value multi-disciplinary ways of working

An opportunity to work with highly-skilled professionals who love what they do

A comprehensive wellbeing and support package for staff



This is an exceptional opportunity to make a difference within a positive and exciting environment. If you share our community’s ethos of diversity and collaboration, then we would be delighted to hear from you.



For an informal discussion about this post please contact Adele Pearson, Head of Academy by email: [e-mail] To apply for this post please click on 'Apply Now' and login to/ create your NEJobs account.

The Job Description and Person Specification for this post can be viewed in the Supporting Documents section of this advert.



Closing Date: Tuesday 17th June 2025 at 9.00am

Interview Date: 7th, 9th & 10th July 2025 - the interview process will involve a practical assessment.



Please note - if you are shortlisted, you will be subject to an online search. This is not part of the shortlisting process and you will have the opportunity to address any issues of concern that come up during the search at interview.



The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people with Special Needs and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore will be subject to a DBS check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.