School cook and kitchen assistant jobs

School cooks and kitchen assistants prepare, cook and serve meals for pupils, then clear and clean the kitchen. The jobs are term-time only and mostly part-time, built around the morning and lunchtime. Kitchen assistants need no qualifications and are trained in food hygiene on the job, while cooks in charge usually need catering experience and a food hygiene certificate. Who employs you matters: the council or school pays on the NJC spine, while catering contractors set their own rates, often near the National Living Wage.

Who does what in a school kitchen

A primary school kitchen might have a cook in charge and one or two assistants. A secondary school kitchen is bigger and closer to a commercial operation, with a catering manager, cooks, a breakfast service, a café or grab-and-go counter, and cashless tills.

Kitchen assistants prepare vegetables and salads, set up the servery, serve meals, wash up, and clean equipment and floors. Cooks plan the day’s production, cook the main dishes, follow the menu and portion sizes, and keep the records. The cook in charge or catering manager orders stock, manages the team and the budget, keeps food safety documentation up to date and deals with inspections.

Food hygiene and allergens

Everyone in a school kitchen is trained in food hygiene, usually to Level 2 for those handling food, with cooks in charge often holding Level 3. Training covers safe storage temperatures, cross-contamination, cleaning and personal hygiene. The local authority’s environmental health team inspects kitchens and gives each a food hygiene rating.

Allergens take up a large part of the job. Kitchens keep a record of which of the allergens listed in food law are in each dish and work from lists of pupils with allergies and special diets supplied by the school. A mistake can be serious, so cooks check, label and serve these meals with particular care.

Schools in England must also meet the school food standards, which set out what must and must not be served across the week, for example limits on fried food and sugary drinks and requirements for fruit and vegetables. The cook in charge or the caterer’s menu team makes sure menus comply.

Hours and term-time pay

A kitchen assistant shift might cover the late morning and lunch, while cooks start earlier to prepare. Breakfast clubs add early shifts. Almost all contracts are term-time only. Under the NJC advisory model for council employees, term-time staff are paid a percentage of the full-time salary covering weeks worked plus pro-rata leave. On the NJC worked example, 39 weeks with a 36-day leave entitlement gives 86.778%, reduced again for hours below 37. See term-time-only pay.

Council, school or contractor pay

There are three common employers.

When the council or school runs catering in-house, staff are usually on the NJC pay spine. The 2026/27 award added 3.3% from 1 April 2026. Kitchen assistants tend to be on the lowest point, SCP 3, which is £25,614 full-time or about £13.28 an hour. Cooks and cooks in charge are graded higher, depending on the size of the kitchen.

When a catering contractor holds the contract, the contractor sets pay. Many pay at or just above the legal minimum, which from 1 April 2026 is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over and £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds. Some are Real Living Wage employers, paying at least £14.10 an hour, or £15.45 in London, on the rates announced on 15 October 2026.

Academy trusts may run their own catering on their own terms. Compare the hourly rate, the number of paid weeks and the pension before choosing between offers, and use the take-home pay calculator to check the net figure.

When a school changes caterer, TUPE usually moves the kitchen staff to the new employer on their existing terms. See TUPE: when your employer changes.

Pension and leave

In-house staff join the Local Government Pension Scheme, with a 2026/27 contribution of 5.5% on pay up to £18,400, or half that in the 50/50 section. Contractor staff are auto-enrolled in a workplace pension if they earn over £10,000 a year with that employer, and otherwise can usually ask to join. Every worker gets at least 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year, pro rata, which in term-time jobs is normally built into the pay.

Getting a job

Councils, academy trusts and catering companies all advertise vacancies. You fill in a short application, give references and, because you work in a school, usually have an enhanced DBS check, which costs £41.00 in England and Wales from 5 October 2026. Kitchen assistant roles fit people who want hours that match the school day. Hospital catering is similar if you prefer longer shifts and year-round work; see NHS catering jobs. School kitchen posts are listed under facilities jobs.