Term time hours- Monday to Friday 8.30am-4.30pm.
School holiday hours- nursery is likely to be quieter due to term time only children, annual leave is encouraged to be taken in the school holidays and shorter hours can be discussed.
Join our warm, welcoming and wonderfully busy Bamboo Kids family!
At Bamboo Kids, we believe food is about so much more than mealtimes. We are a warm, caring and welcoming home-from-home nursery, where children are encouraged to explore, have fun, develop independence and enjoy new experiences. We are looking for a passionate, creative and reliable Nursery Cook to become an important part of our team. This is a genuinely rewarding role where you will not only prepare delicious, nutritious food for our children, but have the opportunity to cook alongside them, teach them, introduce them to new foods and cultures, and become a positive influence in their everyday lives.
The Role
You will be responsible for providing fresh, nutritious and exciting meals and snacks for our children, whilst maintaining exceptionally high standards of food safety, hygiene and allergen management.
You will:
- Plan, prepare and cook nutritious, varied and child-friendly meals and snacks.
- Create and regularly update exciting seasonal and varied menus.
- Work efficiently within strict routines and time-sensitive meal schedules.
- Maintain excellent standards of food hygiene, kitchen cleanliness and food safety.
- Take absolute care and responsibility for allergies, intolerances and individual dietary requirements, ensuring there is no cross-contamination.
- Monitor food stock, deliveries, storage, use-by dates and food waste.
- Keep all necessary kitchen and food safety records up to date.
- Work closely with the nursery team to ensure children's individual needs are understood and met.
- Bring creativity to special occasions, creating exciting themed menus for events such as Christmas, Halloween, Chinese New Year, Easter and other celebrations.
- Support and encourage children to develop a positive relationship with food.
- Be required to have a DBS carried out and suitable checks completed as safeguarding children is at the front of all we do
Cooking With Our Children
One of the things that makes this role particularly special is the opportunity to cook with the children themselves.
You will have the opportunity to:
- Plan simple, fun and age-appropriate cooking experiences.
- Teach children about ingredients, healthy eating and where food comes from.
- Encourage children to explore different tastes, smells, textures and ingredients.
- Support children with simple skills such as mixing, pouring, weighing and measuring.
- Encourage independence, confidence, curiosity and a love of food.
You don't have to be a teacher — you just need to enjoy being around children and be excited to share your knowledge and enthusiasm with them.
What We're Looking For
We're looking for someone who is:
- Passionate about cooking and providing great food for children.
- Warm, friendly and approachable.
- Organised, reliable and able to work to important timings and routines.
- Extremely conscientious when it comes to allergens and food safety.
- Creative and enthusiastic about developing menus and new ideas.
- Calm and able to manage a busy kitchen.
- Happy to work as part of a close-knit nursery team whilst working individually in the kitchen
- Comfortable interacting with children and being part of their everyday experiences.
- Someone who takes pride in their work and consistently maintains high standards.
Previous experience working as a nursery or school cook is desirable, but we would also love to hear from someone with professional cooking experience who has the right attitude, personality and passion for working with children.
Why Bamboo Kids?
This isn't simply a job where you prepare food and leave the kitchen.
You will become part of our Bamboo Kids family, getting to know the children, celebrating their achievements and seeing the excitement on their faces when they discover something new.
From cooking with a child for the first time, to watching them proudly try a new food, creating a special Christmas dinner or preparing something they have helped make themselves — you will be part of the little moments that make early years so special.
If you are passionate about food, love seeing children learn and would like to work somewhere fun, caring, welcoming and genuinely rewarding, we would love to hear from you.
Come and be part of Bamboo Kids.
Pay: £12.80-£13.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Company events
- Company pension
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Experience:
- Cooking: 1 year (preferred)
- Nursery: 1 year (preferred)
Work Location: In person
