GORSE - Catering Manager

Required to start:
September 2026

Catering Manager Salary: B2 (SCP 6-7) £26,846 - £27,274

Actual Salary: £21,842 - £22,190

Hours:

35 hours per week, term time only + 1 working week

We are seeking an enthusiastic, organised and dedicated Catering Manager to lead our in-house catering service at Hillcrest Academy. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in delivering a high-quality, nutritious and welcoming dining experience for our students, staff and visitors. As Catering Manager, you will oversee the daily operation of the academy kitchen and dining facilities, ensuring excellent standards of food quality, hygiene, food safety and customer service.

Working closely with the Trust Catering Manager, you will lead and support the catering team, manage food production and service, monitor budgets and stock, and ensure compliance with all relevant legislation and trust policies. You will also promote healthy eating and help create an environment where students can enjoy safe, nutritious and appealing meals each day. This role would suit an experienced catering professional with strong organisational and leadership skills who is passionate about delivering an outstanding catering service within an educational setting.

• Experience working within a busy catering or kitchen environment.
• Experience managing food preparation and service.
• Knowledge of food safety regulations, hygiene standards and HACCP principles.
• Strong organisational and time management skills.
• The ability to lead, motivate and develop a small team.
• Experience of stock control, ordering and budget monitoring.
• Good communication and customer service skills.
• A commitment to maintaining the highest standards of food hygiene, safety and cleanliness.
• A positive, reliable and flexible approach to work.
• Level 2 Food Safety or Food Hygiene Certificate and willingness to achieve Level 3 if not already held.
• Experience with in a school or education setting is desirable.

• As a trust, we want to ensure that professionals at every stage in their career have the opportunity to enjoy expert support and training.
• We are pleased to offer a generous benefits package to our team – as we work together to create a rewarding future for all including:
• Membership of a local government pension scheme.
• A commitment to continued investment in our professionals, supporting every member of staff throughout their career in the trust.
• Access to an Employee Assistance Programme which provides confidential professional advice and support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• £2k Cycle to work scheme.

About us:

GORSE has a well-known reputation for changing the deal for children and young adults who come from some of the most impoverished parts of the country. Our central mission is to ensure that we play a significant role in removing the stubborn link between poverty and academic underperformance. Consequently, our students and our professionals are in the vanguard of the national drive which seeks to prove that where teaching is excellent, leadership inspiring and behaviour standards exemplary all children excel regardless of background.

Our 15 academies, our central team, our Teaching School Hub and GORSE SCITT work in a tightknit manner which sees our students prospering as a result of great partnership. Our professionals recognise the enormous advantage that comes from belonging to a network of excellence and we as a trust recognise that there is much to be gained when great organisations work with integrity, moral purpose and determination.

If you would like to know more about our trust, please visit our website at

Employment is conditional on confirmation of the right to work in the UK – either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa. Please note that, as a sponsor licence holder, we only provide sponsorship for teacher vacancies.

We promote diversity and aim to establish a workforce that reflects the population of Leeds.

We are committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to full employment checks, including an enhanced DBS disclosure and barring service check.