Chef

The Role

Westbourne House is a day and boarding independent school with over 350 pupils, situated just to the east of Chichester in beautiful grounds of over 100 acres. The school is a kind, happy and supportive environment.

We are looking to appoint an experienced Chef to join our fantastic Catering team. In this role, you will assist in the delivery of the food service provision for pupils and staff, as well as catering for functions and events across the school. You will work alongside the Chef Manager, Deputy Chef Manager and Catering Assistants and will be responsible for supervising the catering function for the boarders in the evening.

It is essential that the school’s Catering Department operates at the highest standard to ensure that the pupils enjoy meals that are planned with great care, prepared with skill and of course taste delicious. We look for high quality food, which is home-made using quality, fresh ingredients.

The working hours for this role will be full-time, Monday to Friday, 11am – 7pm with a half an hour lunch break (37.5 hours per week), term-time only, including INSET days (34 weeks).

The salary for this position is £21,885.12 per annum.

Previous experience of Education or Independent School Catering would be beneficial but not essential. You will have 706/1, 706/2 or NVQ 2 Chef qualifications.

We can offer:

• Strong, supportive staff team
• Competitive salary
• Membership of support staff pension scheme
• Use of the school’s facilities – swimming pool and sports facilities, subsidised staff yoga class
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• On-site parking
• Lunch provided

Please apply by completing the application form. CVs may be attached, but not in place of the application form. Please return completed applications to Robyn Aubrey at hr@westbournehouse.org

Closing date: 3rd July 2024.

We reserve the right to interview and offer to a strong candidate prior to the closing date. For this reason, early applications are encouraged.

Westbourne House is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with current and past employers, online checks, the Disclosure & Barring Service, overseas checks and the Secretary of State’s Prohibition List from Teaching and Management.

About the School

Westbourne House is situated just to the east of Chichester in beautiful grounds of over 100 acres. There are approximately 360 boys and girls aged 2½–13. Most children go on to major public schools across the South.

The school enjoys outstanding facilities. Teaching is extremely well resourced, with excellent teaching rooms, the majority equipped with interactive whiteboards; there are also sets of laptops, which can be booked for class-based work. There are rooms for Art, Ceramics, ICT, Design Technology and Food Technology, a separate Science block and Music School, as well as a modern, 300-seat theatre/assembly hall. The school also has a large (30-acre) lake on the north boundary for kayaking.

Academic standards are high, with consistently outstanding Common Entrance results together with an excellent scholarship record; last year, no fewer than 36 awards and scholarships to senior schools were won across a range of disciplines, totalling 140 over the last five years.

Westbourne House uses the High Performance Learning philosophy to guide all pupils in becoming good learners. The school believes that all pupils have the potential to perform at the highest level regardless of their current performance level. The Advanced Cognitive Performance Characteristics (ACPs) and Values, Attitudes and Attributes (VAAs) of HPL are the “thinking” and “behaviour” characteristic, and these are delivered specifically and systematically throughout the curriculum.

The Music and Drama departments also excel consistently: all children are involved in school productions; a large number are members of school choirs, and there are regular concerts.

Saturday school consists of sports matches, as well as optional enrichment activities, such as kayaking and coding.

There is a wide variety of sport on offer, and a large number of teams represent the school most Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. As well as extensive playing fields, there is a 25-metre swimming pool, dance studio, sports hall, squash courts and a full-sized astro-turf pitch.

There are around 100 boarders, many of whom board for two or three nights in one of seven houses on the school grounds. The school offers full-time boarding, allowing the children to further enjoy the beautiful facilities and grounds the school has to offer.