New craft skills at Lambeth school kitchens

The new scheme provides youngsters with a combination of format training, work based experience, mentoring and exposure to a variety of different food service environments. At the end of this first year, the Harrison Academy (Lambeth) has trained six catering assistants and given them the skills to become qualified cooks. The lucky six are now all heading off for new jobs as school cooks with the council's school meals contract. Gifty Larbi, one of the six chefs, commented: "It was great for me to have the opportunity to learn more about cooking and to experience other sectors of the catering industry as well as visiting some very interesting food markets." Nicola Turk, manager client services responsible for Lambeth contract, said: "By using the skills and resources already available in the company, we have trained these ambitious catering assistants and created a whole new generation of school cooks. "We're going to repeat this process again this year, with the next group having already been chosen and getting ready to start their training."