School Chefs Derby

Blue Arrow; East Midlands; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Part time

Job summary

A recruitment agency is seeking a School Chef to work in Derby and surrounding areas, ensuring students receive nutritious meals. Ideal candidates will have cooking experience, a passion for food, and an enhanced DBS. Offering flexible working hours, this role allows for part-time or full-time commitments, focusing on school terms. Additional perks include weekly pay and a dedicated consultant to assist with scheduling. Join a friendly educational community while enjoying great pay rates.

Benefits

Term-time hours

Weekly pay

Flexible shifts

Opportunity to work in diverse environments

Qualifications

• Experience in school, café, care home, or pub settings.
• Knowledge of stock management and ordering.
• Must have own chef whites and knives.

Responsibilities

• Cook meals that children will enjoy.
• Ensure high standards of hygiene and safety.
• Cover holiday and sickness as needed.

Skills

Chef / cooking experience

Organisation + teamwork skills

Attention to detail

Ability to work under pressure

Flexible and managing own diary

Education

Minimum 2 years experience as cook or chef manager

Enhanced DBS covering child workforce within the last 12 months

Job description

School Chefs with DBS

Location: Derby, Derbyshire and surrounding areas

Establishments: Schools & Nurseries

Contract type: Temporary – some contracts may lead to permanent after successful period.

Hourly rate / Salary: £16p/h – £17p/h

Can you whip up a storm in the kitchen and convince kids to eat their veggies? Then we want to hear from you!

With the new school term just around the corner. We're on the lookout for a superstar School Chef to keep our clients pupils (and staff… let's be honest) fuelled up with tasty, healthy meals.

The job in a nutshell

• Cook meals that make kids go "Mmm!" not "Eww!"
• Keep the kitchen running like clockwork
• Make sure allergies, safety, and hygiene are always top‑notch
• Bring creativity, energy, and a splash of fun to the menu

You won't just be a school dinner cook, you will be cooking and preparing fresh nutritious food, ensuring children of all ages have a hot meal daily. You will be covering holiday, sickness and increase business demand, working for several contract catering environments. Some of our contracts can lead to permanent contracts too, perfect for anyone looking for their next position.

Perks of the job

• Term‑time hours (yep - you get school holidays off)
• A warm, friendly school community
• The daily satisfaction of empty plates + happy faces
• Great pay rates
• Weekly pay
• Great working life balance
• Chance to gain experience and work with some fantastic clients throughout Nottingham & Derby.
• Your very own Blue Arrow app and portal where you can accept shifts on the go, find work immediately, and much more.
• Dedicated consultant
• You choose the hours to work flexible shifts
• Chance to gain more hours around current jobs and commitments.
• Mixtures of shifts.
• PAID FOR EVERY HOUR WORKED
• Different working environments - every day is different

What we need from you

• Chef / cooking experience (school, café, care home, pub – all welcome!)
• A love of food and feeding people
• Organisation + teamwork skills
• A big dollop of positivity
• An in‑date Enhanced DBS covering child workforce DATED WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS ideally on the new updated service programme, (we do have the Facilities to put you through one at a cost if needed, this would benefit you in offering more work.)
• You will have extraordinary attention to detail
• You will have knowledge of stock management and ordering (job role dependant)
• You will enjoy working with different people
• Have the ability to work within various environments
• You will have the skills to manage teams (job role dependant)
• Have ability to work to menus, but also to produce own food weekly menus
• Have experience working with fresh food within a contract catering environment
• You will have the skills to manage small teams
• You will be able to work under pressure and work with a variety of teams
• You will enjoy being flexible and managing your own diary
• You will have your own chef whites and knives
• Available to cover ad hoc last minute sickness requests for our clients this can be on the same day.
• You will have at least 2 years background working as a cook or chef manager
• You will be at least a cook level or up to chef management level
• You will have your own chef whites and knives

Working Hours

Part time – this will be suitable for any chefs looking to pick extra hours around their current job or commitments.

Full time – this would be suitable for any chefs looking for full time work with the option of flexible work too.

As you will be required to work within Schools & nurseries majority of these environments offer Monday to Friday working from around 7 / 8am start until 3 / 4pm, with weekends off. Don't worry we can still offer work on weekends too, to build your hours if needed.

The Commute

As we cover a large number of locations across Derby, & Nottingham your commute will vary. If you have a car and are flexible with locations, great, if you're limited to public transport, we'll only send you to places that have public transport links and provide you with all the information you will need.

Think you've got the recipe for success? Send your CV to [email / contact details] and tell us your favourite school dinner while you're at it! ️

Blue Arrow is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to helping find great work opportunities for great people.