Catering students win work placements with top international chefs
Students at Salford City College have won placements to work alongside top chefs thanks to an innovation project to foster closer links with industry.
The college was awarded funding by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) to set up an employer ambassador scheme in the areas of hospitality, catering, leisure and tourism. Employers from each sector supported students through competitions by coaching and mentoring and gave them aspirations of success on a national and, at times, international level.
Catering students have completed placements with chefs including Rick Stein, Mitch Tonks and Nigel Howarth. One student, Jordan aged 18, worked alongside restaurateur and food writer, Mitch Tonks, and has since been offered permanent work at his restaurant in Dartmouth when he has completed his course.
Along the way, the college restaurant and its students have reached the finals of the College Restaurant of the Year competition and they have catered for two Labour Party conferences. The college is planning to use some of the innovation funding to send all second year students on work placements both nationally and internationally. An impressive two page article about their achievements was published in the Salford Advertiser on 19 March this year as well as on the front page of the largest weekly hospitality journal.
Lee Allsup, head of catering and curriculum at the college, and former top chef himself, said: “The constant drive behind everything we do is the student, getting them to aim high, no matter what their background.”
Pendleton College, now Salford City College, is one of 140 Learning and Skills Beacon organisations. It was successfully granted the funds last year under the LSIS innovation funding scheme which provides support for innovative ideas and concepts to be trialled.