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School cooks wanting to boost their training skills for passing on their kitchen know-how can now turn to new support from the School Food Trust.

The charity is launching the service for the many school cooks around the country who are often called upon to deliver training on kitchen and cooking skills to less experienced staff, but who may not feel they have the confidence or the teaching skills they need.

It follows a pilot scheme by the Trust, in which cooks from four local authorities - Bolton, Doncaster, Nottingham and Hull  - were given the chance to learn about training theory, different learning styles among teams, ways to present information and handle questions and feedback.

All the participating cooks rated the training as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’, with their catering managers reporting that they had become more confident trainers.

The charity is now rolling out the training for other local authorities, with the opportunity to win free places on the first sessions in June.

Trainer Simon Thake said: “Our pilot scheme showed that there’s real value in this, both for cooks themselves but also for their catering managers and local authorities.

“It makes so much sense for school cooks – who have all the practical knowledge you could ever need - to deliver training to other staff.

“But we have to support cooks with the skills to be great trainers. Ultimately, it’s a really solid investment for any catering manager, and can be a big part of your commitment to developing your team.”

The ‘school cooks train the trainer’ scheme uses discussion, role playing, practical demonstrations and planning time, ending with the chance for cooks to test their own training demonstrations with the group.

“All catering managers whose cooks attended the pilot scheme felt they were more confident to send their cooks to train staff in other schools as a result.

The Trust is beginning the roll-out of the scheme with sessions for more cooks on June 13th, 14th and July 11th. Cooks need to attend all three dates to complete the course, at a total cost of £300.

Local authorities registering their interest before May 7th will be entered into a draw to win two free places at the sessions for cooks from their schools.

To register interest e-mail: simon.thake@childrensfoodtrust.org.uk.