School Cook

September 2026 start
School Cook

Salary: £29,540 per annum (pro rata)
Term Time Only  (39 weeks per year)
Working Hours :  25 hours per week (8.30am – 1.30pm, Monday to Friday)
Directly responsible to the Headteacher

Purpose:    
•    Manage the effective delivery of high-quality school meals, ensuring pupils receive fresh and nutritious food every day while maintain excellent standards of food safety, hygiene and service.
•    Lead, motivate and support the kitchen team, organise workloads, develop staff and foster a positive team environment that delivers an efficient and welcoming catering service.
•    Play a key role in our school community by bringing enthusiasm, creativity and a commitment to healthy eating, ensuring mealtimes are a positive experience that supports pupils’ wellbeing and enjoyment of school.

Key responsibilities:
1.    To plan and prepare a healthy and varied 3 weekly menu cycle for each term with support from Relish and taking pupil voice into consideration;

2.    To prepare and cook a variety of meals to meet the dietary needs and nutritional targets of all school children, including those within special and/or allergy needs;

3.    To work consistently with the school and pupils to increase the uptake of school meals;

4.    To respect and maintain the highest standard of food preparation in line with the standards of food quality and service, using appropriate equipment in keeping with the Environmental Health requirements;

5.    To make meal times a pleasing and pleasant experience for all children;

6.    To follow a cleaning schedule which ensures a high standard of cleanliness complying with Health & Safety Procedures, Food Safety Act (1990) & Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations (1995);

7.    To be responsible for maintaining safety standards within the kitchen area together with those safety standards affecting all kitchen staff. To be responsible for stock control using a minimum of once weekly stock checks and to ensure that food stock is not wasted;

8.    To be responsible for kitchen equipment, tools and materials including the Relish computer tablet;

9.    To be responsible for ordering/purchasing food supplies and essential equipment;

10.    To maintain daily records relating to storage temperatures of food products. To maintain all documents and records as determined by the Food Standards Agency, all other legal requirements;

11.    To maintain appropriate financial records and remain within an allocated budget;

12.    To cater for special occasions, guests or visitors at the school as may be requested by the Headteacher;

13.    To maintain the school’s and Cumberland Council’s commitment to equal opportunities and promote non-discriminatory practice in all work aspects;

The duties above are neither exclusive nor exhaustive and the post holder may be required by the Headteacher to carry out appropriate duties within the contract of the jobs, skills and grade.

For further information, and to apply, please complete the application form, which can be downloaded from the school’s website and a one-sided A4 covering letter.

Completed application forms should be returned marked FAO Mrs Lorna Smith, Headteacher, via email to [email protected] by 12 noon on Friday 10th July 2026.

Visits to the school are very welcome. Please call the school on 01228 711544 to request an appointment.

Interviews for successful candidates will take place on the morning of Wednesday 15th July 2026.

Safer Recruitment and Selection
The school pays full regard to the DfE statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’. The Governing Body will prevent people who pose a risk of harm from working with children by adhering to statutory responsibilities to carry out appropriate checks on staff or other who work unsupervised with children, taking proportionate decisions on whether to ask for any checks beyond what is required; and ensuring those without full checks are appropriately supervised. The Governing Body ensure that at least one person on any appointment panel has attended safer recruitment training. Any successful candidate will be appointed subject to Enhanced DBS and pre-employment checks, confirmation of appropriate qualifications and professional references.

Application details are available from the school website: https://st-michaels.cumbria.sch.uk/

Closing date for applications: 12 noon on Friday 10th July 2026.