Chef Courses: The Very Best the UK has to Offer
If you’re to believe the British press, the Duchess of Cambridge recently enrolled on a two-week course at Leiths cookery school in a bid to brush up her skills in the kitchen. Of course, we mere mortals might not have a budget like Kate’s, or probably the free time, but there are still a number of courses you can check out.
The course Kate reportedly attended could have cost anywhere between £95 (for a one-day stint) to £21,265 for a three-term diploma. But if you don’t fancy Leiths School of Food and Wine, here are three more worth looking at:
Professional Cookery Diploma, Ashburton, Devon – Suitable for anyone who wants to launch a career as a professional chef, open a pub, café or restaurant or set up a catering business, this is a great option for you if you live down south. The mission of the Ashburton Chefs’ Academy – the company that runs the course – is simply to help launch the careers of future culinary stars. The institution realises that becoming a chef takes ambition, dedication, passion and skill, but the company helps by extending a would-be chef’s training to develop the full range of skills required to be not just a chef, but a head chef. The six-month programme will develop your culinary skills, prepare you for a career in the industry and help you be the very best cook you can be.
Level 4 Diploma in Professional Culinary Arts – Created by the Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality and Gordon Ramsay’s Tante Marie Culinary Academy, this London-based qualification allows budding chefs the chance to develop a mix of practical and theoretical skills. But that’s not all; alongside key cooking skills, you’ll also learn knife skills, familiarity with produce, fish preparation, pastry work and food safety. In order to be accepted on the course, you must have completed formal secondary education and have a minimum English IELTS 5.0 level or an approved equivalent, as well as be over 16. Is this you? Look into enrolling on the course in the hope of eventually entering a role in the leisure jobs industry.
Level 2 Apprenticeship in Catering & Professional Chefs, Preston College – With the next start date coming up in September 2015, you may well have left it too late to enrol for this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enquire about enrolling for 2016. The apprenticeship allows students like you to gain technical knowledge and good practical experience in areas where there are known skills or vacancies that are ‘hard to fill’. Giving budding chefs an entry route into the cooking industry, this gives candidates a chance to progress onto further courses to enhance their skills. The 24-month, full-time course gives you a good grounding for eventually becoming a chef and helps you achieve the confidence and skills you’re looking for to make it into the cooking arena.
Looking for some more courses? With everything from one-day courses to 3-year university placements on offer, there’ll be something to suit you that perfectly fits into your lifestyle, too.
