Kitchen assistant jobs

Coin Street Nursery is seeking an experienced and passionate Head Chef to join our friendly and dedicated team. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who takes pride in creating fresh, nutritious meals from scratch and is committed to promoting healthy eating for young children.

While experience in a nursery or similar setting is desirable, it is not essential. We welcome candidates with strong catering experience in preparing meals at scale who share our values around nutrition and quality.

We operate a busy nursery, preparing meals for up to 80 children and staff daily. The successful candidate will be highly organised, able to manage their own workload, and committed to maintaining high standards across all areas of the kitchen.

We are proud of our 5-star food hygiene rating and our excellent standards of cleanliness. Maintaining health and safety, food hygiene, and compliance will be central to your role. Working within a set budget, you will also be responsible for effective menu planning, stock control, and food purchasing, ensuring meals remain fresh, healthy, and varied.

You will play a key role in meeting the diverse dietary needs of our children. A strong understanding of allergies, intolerances, and special diets is essential to ensure every child receives safe, high-quality meals.
You will be supported by a part-time kitchen assistant; however, you will retain overall responsibility for the kitchen, including end-of-day cleaning and organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan and prepare nutritious, balanced meals for children and staff
• Manage kitchen operations, including ordering, stock control, and budgeting
• Maintain high standards of food hygiene, cleanliness, and safety
• Cater for a range of dietary requirements, including allergies and cultural preferences
• Lead and organise daily kitchen activities effectively

We are looking for a Head Chef who can demonstrate:

• A current Food Hygiene Certificate
• Significant experience preparing a wide range of meals in a non-domestic setting for large groups, ideally including young children
• Experience in menu planning, ordering, and stock management 
• Strong knowledge of dietary requirements, food hygiene, and health & safety 
• Good literacy, numeracy, and budget management skills 
• The ability to work collaboratively and communicate effectively with colleagues and children 
• A proactive approach to contributing to service development, including diverse and culturally inclusive menus

Creating an inspirational neighbourhood
We provide the opportunities and spaces for people to lead their own change.

Our activities are wide and far reaching. From giving families and children the best start in life through our childcare and family support, to creating and maintaining high quality live, work and play spaces on land which we own.

We promote enterprise, creativity and lifelong learning whether that’s through providing employment, volunteering opportunities, nurturing enterprise or delivering programmes and activities.  We provide housing that supports our community; we champion co-operative housing and influence local and national housing policy.

From sports and dance to healthy eating and gardening, we offer a range of facilities and activities accessible to everyone to support health and wellbeing in our community.

In return, we can offer you:

• 35 days’ annual leave (including bank holidays) pro rata for part time staff
• 8% contributory pension scheme (5% employer contribution, 3% employee contribution)
• Health and wellbeing support, including online mental health therapy sessions
• Free gym membership at Colombo, annual flu jabs
• Commitment to training and development

Contract
Permanent, 37.5 hours per week

Salary
£33,000 per annum

To Apply
To apply, please download and complete the application form. Once completed, submit your application via email. Please visit our website if you require more info.

Due to Safer Recruitment guidance, please note that additional documents, such as CVs, will not be considered.

Successful candidates will be required to undertake an Enhanced DBS check. 

Closing Date
Please send your application by midnight on 21 June 2026

Open to applicants looking for full time (37.5 hours per week); or part time, working morning or afternoon, with number of hours by mutual agreement and business need.

Our Facilities team works hard to ensure that every guest visiting Woodrow has a safe and memorable visit. You will be working alongside the wider team to maintain all buildings, including our Grade II listed Manor House and Leisure Centre, and the outside grounds and activity areas, to ensure the site is welcoming, tidy and safe for all. You will assist the Facilities Manager in ensuring we remain compliant with relevant Health & Safety legislation; and will be involved in various duties that contribute to the wider success of the Centre and London Youth. 

What you will be doing 

The Facilities Assistant provides logistical and maintenance support for the Woodrow estate and holds the following core responsibilities. This is not intended as an exhaustive list, and the job may change over time to reflect the changing needs of our centre, as well as the personal development needs of the post holder. 

Grounds upkeep: 

• General upkeep of the 26-acre estate grounds e.g. pruning, mowing, planting, tidying gardens. 
• Keeping grounds, paths and hard surfaces safe and free of ice, snow, leaves, weeds, etc. 
• Maintaining the 3G astro pitch, cycle circuit and outdoor activity areas.

Building maintenance: 

• Undertake day-to-day minor repairs, e.g. patching, painting, leaky taps, hinges, caulking, etc. 
• Undertake cyclical / seasonal jobs e.g. clearing gutters, drains, drain gratings, etc. 
• Support with biomass boiler maintenance and receive woodchip deliveries. 
• Support with basic utilities issues as they arise, e.g. heating, plumbing, electrical, etc. 

Health and safety: 

• Undertake routine safety/compliance checks of all facilities including, among other things, legionella temperature aduits, emergency equipment inspections and tests, etc. 
• Support the FM with risk assessments and work procedures relevant to the role. 
• Maintain accurate records of all work carried out using systems in place for auditing. 

General duties: 

• Basic joinery, carpentry and build projects done in house, under direction of the FM. 
• Supervise outside contractors to ensure all jobs are carried out to agreed standards. 
• Supervise corporate volunteer groups who support us with gardening or build projects. 
• Support with setup and occasional on-the-day attendance at various events. 
• Undertake other duties as reasonably requested by London Youth's management that ensure the ongoing success of the charity and delivery of excellent customer experiences. 

What you bring to the role 

Experience, Knowledge & Skills 

We do not expect candidates to have expertise in all areas, but at a minimum experience of minor buildings repairs and maintenance and groundskeeping work is essential to this role. Training will be provided to address some gaps where necessary and relevant. 

• Experience with grounds maintenance including tree and lawn care, gardening, etc. 
• Experience of maintenance in heating, plumbing, electrical systems. 
• Demonstrable good practical DIY skills, including decorating, joinery, carpentry, repairs, etc. 
• Experience using power and maintenance tools, including small tractor with mower, jigsaws, strimmers, etc. 
• Demonstrable understanding of Health & Safety regulations relevant to this type of role; the importance of compliance, evidencing and contributing to this. 
• Hold a good level of fitness and able to work outside in variable weather conditions. 
• Experience of conducting regular compliance checks, recording and reporting on them. 
• Able to use digital systems for record keeping, including Microsoft Office and various apps. 
• A current driving licence (tractor experience is also desirable).

Qualifications in the use of a chainsaw, power tools, tractor driving, pool plant are desirable. 

Attributes and Behaviours

• Someone who takes pride in their work and enjoys getting things done. 
• Customer centric mindset and a firm commitment to customer excellence and safety. 
• Able to quickly establish a rapport and build effective relationships with a wide range of people. 
• Composed demeanor and calm under pressure, able to dynamically prioritse and problem solve. 
• Keen attention to detail, following procedures and recording actions reliably and consistently. 
• Able to work independently, demonstrating proactivity and initiative. 
• Collaborative team player with a willingness to work effectively with others. 
• Self-motivated with a positive attitude, growth mindset and keen willingness to develop. 
• Willing to both give and receive direction from others. 
• Impeccable work ethic with a practical, flexible, and dynamic approach to work. 
• Absolute commitment ot London Youth's principles of equality, diversity and inclusion. 

You will be able to demonstrate our values of being: 

• Ambitious 
• Collaborative 
• Inclusive 
• Accountable 

Why work at Woodrow High House

• Health Care Cash Plan to help cover your healthcare essentials. 
• Free access for you and your family to the Employee Assistance Programme. 
• Free onsite parking. 
• Branded quality uniform provided. 
• Free access to the 'Headspace' app for you and your family. 
• Free access to the Charity Mentoring Network, as a mentee or mentor. 
• Free tea and coffee available in the 'Tea & Coffee Bar'. 
• Free meals provided whilst on duty when the kitchen is serving young people in residence. 
• Magnificent location on a historic estate, surrounded by nature. 
• Cycle to Work scheme. 
• You'll be working with a fantastic team of passionate colleagues across London Youth. 
• An outstanding culture and ethos where staff and visitors enjoy, challenge, and achieve. 
• Occasional supply of sweet - sometimes savoury - always yummy - treats are guaranteed. 
• You will be making a difference to the lives of young people! 

The Sheppard Trust provides homes for older women in housing need, and we support them to live independently.  We reduce loneliness and isolation by fostering a supportive community spirit.   

We're about to move to brand-new, purpose built accommodation near Hampton Court village in Surrey, with 60 one bedroomed flats and a range of communal facilities.  Our residents will live independently in their homes, with assistance to access the appropriate support services to maintain independence.We want them to live full and active lives in an inclusive, thriving community which is well regarded in our local community.

We're a small friendly team who care deeply about getting this project off to an excellent start and achieving our aims.  We operate with these values:  respectful, inclusive, conscientious, compassionate, honest.

We’re looking for someone proactive and flexible to help us for the first six months, as we set up the building, set up our new systems, and move everyone in.  This will be a really varied role where no two days are the same, and will be a mixture of administration and practical tasks.  You could be getting our staff kitchen set up, preparing the paperwork for a new resident, helping someone set up their heating controls or utility accounts, setting up and updating databases, answering queries at reception, logging maintenance tasks or helping with an event.

You might well have some housing experience already, or have worked with older people, but we also value transferrable skills, lived values and the ability to learn quickly.

An enhanced DBS check will be required.  This will be a fixed term contract from mid-July 2026 for six months.  We are open to offering this role on either a full time basis or an alternative working pattern of at least 25 hours per week.

You’ll bring:

· Confidence in organising and prioritising a varied workload

· Good administrative skills and ability to create and keep accurate records

· A proactive, flexible “can do” approach and the ability to “hit the ground running”

· Good communication skills with a wide range of people.

· a strong commitment to safeguarding and to respecting diversity and inclusion. 

We can offer:

· a salary of £26,000 - 28,000 per annum pro rata

· membership of the Social Housing Pension Scheme (defined contribution)

· a friendly and supportive working environment with strong values, good staff facilities (and free tea and coffee)

· lots of variety and a range of experience

· the opportunity to be part of setting up something brand new from the very start.

For more information please see the full job description and person specification attached.