Senior Catering Assistant

Role: Senior Catering Assistant

Location: Tresham College – Kettering Campus

Salary/Benefits: Salary is between £26,500 and £27,299 per annum DOE and Qualifications, 27 days annual leave plus Bank holidays,People’s pension, Retail and Leisure Discounts, excellent professional and personal development opportunities, accessing college courses.

Hours/Weeks: 37.5 hours per week – 52 weeks per year

Contract Type: Permanent – Full Time

About the role:

We are currently seeking a Senior Catering Assistant to join our Catering and Hospitality department at The Bedford College Group.

As a Senior Catering Assistant, you play an important role in the success of our students through:

• Operational Oversight – Support the Chef Manager or lead own café operations, including stock management, ordering supplies, cashing up, and supervising catering assistants to ensure smooth daily service.
• Food Preparation & Service – Assist in preparing and cooking food, setting up counters, serving customers courteously, and maintaining cleanliness across kitchen and dining areas.
• Customer Experience & Promotion – Deliver excellent customer service, resolve complaints professionally, and contribute to sales development through promotions and themed events.
• Compliance & Record-Keeping – Maintain accurate financial and stock records, follow college financial regulations, and support hospitality orders and administrative tasks as required.
• Statutory Duties & Development – Uphold safeguarding, equality, health & safety standards, and engage in training and development to support continuous improvement and flexible working.

About you:

• Essential Qualifications & Knowledge – Holds a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate, GCSEs (or equivalent), and understands POS/PDQ systems, food preparation, and health & safety in catering.
• Experience & Practical Skills – Experienced in customer care, food preparation, and maintaining kitchen cleanliness, with the ability to perform frequent lifting tasks and multitask in a fast-paced environment.
• Teamwork & Communication – Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to follow instructions, work effectively in a team, and communicate confidently face-to-face, by phone, and in writing.
• Flexibility & Initiative – Demonstrates a flexible approach to working hours and locations, with drive, enthusiasm, and a willingness to adapt and support service demands.
• Commitment to Standards & Development – Maintains high standards of hygiene and professionalism, promotes equality and safeguarding, and shows readiness to update skills and knowledge.

For a more detailed breakdown of the job role and the requirements, please see the Job Description attached to this vacancy.

Interviews to be held: TBC

Successful candidates must also be able to demonstrate alignment to our organisationalVISION values:

• Valuing Teamwork – We are one team who by working together can achieve great things, respecting the opinion and valuing the contribution each of us makes.
• Improving Continuously – We challenge ourselves to always do better by trying new things, sharing knowledge, reflecting on practice and learning from others.
• Student Centred – At our heart is always doing what is best for our students. We consider students in all of our decision making to create positive outcomes and memorable experiences for every student.
• Inclusive – We celebrate differences and diversity, recognising that we can learn from each other.
• Open and Caring – We care about the wellbeing of our staff, our students, our community and wider society, creating an environment built on trust where we listen, engage with and support each other.
• Nurturing Education Excellence – We promote educational excellence by delivering programmes that challenge our students to achieve their ambitions.

About The Bedford College Group
The Bedford College Group was formed in 2017 following the merger of Bedford College and Tresham College and is now the largest provider of education in the South East Midlands, with over 15,000 students passing through our doors each year.

Today, the Group is made up of a family of colleges across Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire: Bedford College, Central Bedfordshire College and Tresham College in the towns of Bedford, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough; Shuttleworth College, a specialist land-based college; The Bedford Sixth Form, (the only dedicated sixth form in Bedford); The Corby Sixth Form, (opened in September 2023); and the National College for Motorsport alongside Silverstone race circuit. To widen accessibility to education and training, the Group also has community-based Learning Centres in Bedford, Corby and Kettering which offer IT training.

Safeguarding our Students
The Bedford College Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to thorough vetting process which includes, an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975, provides information about which convictions must be declared during job applications and related exceptions and further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide. The Bedford College Group’s policy on Employment of Ex-Offenders is attached to this vacancy.

Candidates who are barred from working with children are reminded it is a criminal offence to apply for this post.

Documents

TBCG Ex-Offenders Policy.pdf

Senior Assistant Kettering.docx