Community Kitchen - vacancy for a nursery cook

Community Kitchen Cook: advert text

Read all about the Community Kitchen campaign in Nursery World

Scale 6 – £25,263 - £26,742 pro rata, 25 hours per week

Do you share our passion about offering babies, toddlers and young children the very best food whilst they are in nursery? Do you have the skills to work with children, parents and other professionals to make a real difference to families’ health and wellbeing in inner London?

Kate Greenaway is a delightful Nursery School and Children’s Centre with 51 places for children aged from six months to rising five year olds, close to King’s Cross station in Central London. We are developing an exciting new project, the “Community Kitchen”, in partnership with the Duke of Cambridge, a local award-winning organic restaurant.

You will be working with an assistant to prepare and cook fresh meals every day for the children on roll, using seasonal and mainly organic ingredients. You will be part of an experienced and supportive staff team and working in a friendly, child-centred, community-focussed environment. You will have specialist support, advice and ongoing training from the team at Duke of Cambridge.

You will need to be a good, creative cook, with knowledge of and interest in food and nutrition. You will need to have some experience of running a kitchen (sourcing food, planning menus, financial control). Knowledge of health and hygiene standards and statutory requirements is essential.

You will be required to plan, source, and cook healthy, nutritionally-balanced meals for children and staff, with a particular attention to reflecting the cultural diversity of the neighbourhood. As well as managing the whole process of preparing and cooking meals for the nursery, you will be involving children in food preparation and cooking, and helping to run cook and eat workshops and other events with parents.

The successful application will be passionate about food from growing and sourcing through to the use of local and seasonal produce, and have a keen interest in the environment, recycling and the use of organic produce. A commitment to working with and inspiring children and families will be vital.

If you are excited by the unique opportunity as we are, we hope you will apply for the post. Please note that you must use the Application Form: we will not accept CVs.

If you are interested in this post, we hope you will be able to come and visit on Tuesday 5th May between 9.30am-11am.

You can also discuss the post informally by contacting Julian Grenier, headteacher at Kate Greenaway, on 0207 527 4853 or send me an email


To apply for this post please contact the Recruitment Team on 020 7527 5812 or by email, quoting ref: ED/5079. Please note: you cannot obtain an application pack for this post until Tuesday 5th May. The application pack will include the full details for the post.

Closing date 5pm 13th May.

Shortlisting morning of 14th May.

Selection process (interview and practical tests) 19th May.


Kate Greenaway Nursery and Children’s Centre is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.


Letter to applicants

Dear applicant

Thank you for your interest in the post of Community Cook at Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children’s Centre. I hope you will find the application process works smoothly for you and I look forward to reading your application.

About Kate Greenaway

We are a small Nursery School and Children’s Centre located close to Kings Cross. We have 51 places for children aged from 6 months to rising 5 years old. We think that Kate Greenaway is a good place to work, with a highly committed and friendly staff team and excellent relationships with parents. As soon as you come in, there is a special atmosphere – very focussed on what is best for young children, with a strong emphasis on play and enjoying our fantastic garden. There is a very full and popular programme of groups for parents and carers with young children, too.

If you agree that “seeing is believing”, then please come along to our open morning on Tuesday 5th May, 9.30-11am, when you can have a tour and also meet Tascha, the chef from the Duke of Cambridge.

To find out more, have a look at our website, email me or phone for an informal discussion (all contact details are in the letter heading above).

About the Community Kitchen

We are really excited by this new project, which is all about improving the quality of the food at nursery, and working with parents and the wider community to promote healthy eating.

We start with enjoyment and participation – children relishing meals which are freshly cooked and prepared with locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients, and taking part in vegetable growing and good preparation. So you will need to enjoy the company of young children and be ready to be patient, take time with them, and involve them (with the support of the nursery staff, of course). You will also be enthusiastic about working with small groups of parents, and doing informal cooking and tasting sessions as part of our “Stay and Play” programme. Occasionally you may be asked to work on a weekend or evening.

Working closely with the Duke of Cambridge, you will be devising nutritionally-balanced menus which are appropriate for the age-group and which celebrate the ethnic and cultural diversity of the neighbourhood.

You will also have a firm grip on costs in the kitchen and help to raise extra revenue, for example by selling fresh and frozen meals to staff and parents.

Your people-skills will be very good – you will need to support, encourage and manage the assistant cook, work closely with nursery staff and parents, and have lots of initiative and flexibility.

A few words about the application form
Please note the following points, Make sure you submit a good application form that does you justice!

• Please read the guidance from Islington Council carefully, and follow the advice given.
• Please do not submit a CV – we will not consider it. You must outline your skills and experience in your personal statement. We would prefer this to be typed and the maximum length we recommend is 2 pages of A4.
• We are committed to safer recruitment. This means that you must give 2 referees, one of whom is your current or most recent employer. You must also provide a full employment history without any gaps.
• Please make sure you can be free for the whole of Tuesday 19th May for the selection process, should you be shortlisted.

Thanks once again for your interest in this post.

Julian Grenier