Catering Manager

Catering Manager – Primary School

Location: Essex
Salary: £16,058 – £16,843 per annum (actual salary) + £635.56 Inner Fringe Allowance
Contract: Permanent, Part-Time
Hours: 30 hours per week
Working Pattern: Term time only, 38 weeks per year
Start Date: As soon as possible, subject to satisfactory safer recruitment checks

Teach Now is recruiting an experienced and enthusiastic Catering Manager to join a welcoming primary school in Essex. This is a fantastic permanent opportunity for someone who takes pride in delivering fresh, nutritious meals and enjoys leading a busy school kitchen.

As Catering Manager, you will oversee the day-to-day running of the kitchen, ensuring pupils and staff receive high-quality meals in a safe, organised and welcoming environment. This is a hands-on role combining food preparation and service with team supervision, stock management and food safety compliance.

Key Responsibilities
• Prepare, cook and serve nutritious, appealing meals in line with school menus and nutritional standards.
• Lead and support a small kitchen team to ensure an efficient daily service.
• Maintain consistently high standards of food hygiene, cleanliness and kitchen safety.
• Order supplies, monitor stock levels and manage food resources effectively within budget.
• Complete relevant food safety, hygiene and compliance records accurately.
• Ensure dietary requirements and allergens are managed carefully and appropriately.
• Help create a positive dining experience for pupils while supporting the schools healthy eating ethos.

About You

We are looking for a Catering Manager who is organised, dependable and genuinely passionate about providing excellent food for children.

You should have:

• Previous experience in catering, professional food preparation or a similar kitchen environment.
• Experience within a school, education or high-volume catering setting would be beneficial.
• A Level 2 or Level 3 Food Hygiene qualification.
• Confidence supervising and supporting other kitchen staff.
• Strong knowledge of food hygiene, health and safety and allergen requirements.
• Good organisational and stock-management skills.
• A positive, practical approach and the ability to work effectively during busy service periods.

Benefits:

This Catering Manager role offers the opportunity to become an important part of a friendly and supportive primary school community. Benefits include:

• Permanent, term-time-only employment with school holidays off.
• A supportive and welcoming school environment.
• Training and opportunities for continued professional development.
• A strong focus on staff wellbeing and healthy work-life balance.
• The opportunity to make a visible difference to childrens health, wellbeing and school experience.

Salary will be determined in line with the advertised scale and the successful candidates relevant qualifications and experience.

Why work via Teach Now?
Teach-Now are a widely recognised, education recruitment company. We pride ourselves on our high levels of customer service and professional development that we offer our teachers and support staff. We:

• Ensure that you will have your own dedicated consultant who will provide ongoing support and guidance.
• Offer an excellent refer a friend scheme that pays you £150 for each candidate you refer to us after they have worked and been paid for their first 10 days.
• Pay in line with the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) meaning you will be paid equally to a permanent employee.
• Give you access to a wide range of CPD training through our in-house team of experienced senior leaders

Application Process: Do you feel you meet the criteria for this exciting opportunity? If so, please either apply below or contact Teach-Now directly. All applicants will require the appropriate qualification and training for this role. For teacher roles, we require a formally recognised teaching qualification. If you are not contacted within 2 working days, unfortunately, you have been unsuccessful for this role. However, we will keep your CV and continue to help you in your search for a job within education. Good luck with your application, we look forward to hearing from you.

Teach Now operates stringent safer recruitment procedures.

We are committed to promoting equality and challenging discrimination. Teach Now is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post will be subject to an Enhanced DBS Clearance.