Assistant Cook - Hope Wood Academy

Together we build brighter futures for our young people with special educational needs. Founded in 2012, The Ascent Academies’ Trust is a family of six special academies in the North of England, over four different local authorities. We are a collaborative group of academies who work closely with one another in order to achieve the best outcomes for our young people. As a result, our academies have improved year on year and all academies are currently at least Good from an Ofsted rating, with some individual areas rated outstanding. This is an exciting time to join our Trust as we look to set out our next steps in creating brilliant schools. We are an ethical Trust whose vision and values are aligned to equality and diversity, collaboration and lifelong learning.

We are looking for an Assistant Cook to work in our busy school kitchens, you will be working alongside our chef/lecturer who leads the catering service across our school sites. You will be passionate about ensuring young people have access to healthy and nutritious food which meets their dietary and sensory needs. You will be hardworking, flexible and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment. It is important that young people know where their food comes from and to develop good dietary habits which will serve them well into adulthood. Our kitchen's also serve as training kitchens for young people with special educational needs therefore you must be willing and able to support our young people to develop in a real-life kitchen environment.

Candidates will possess GCSE A* - C in Maths and English or equivalent.
You will also hold an NVQ Level 3 Hospitality and Catering or be willing to work towards the qualification and also a Level 3 Food Hygiene Certificate or again the willingness to work towards this.

What we need:

• An individual with a passion for working in the catering service of a multi-academy trust
• An enthusiastic and positive approach
• Commitment to own professional development including the completion of an external qualification during the course of the traineeship Consistently high expectations and aspirations for our young people and yourself
• Someone with strong attention to detail, thoroughness and a high level of integrity
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Complete commitment to the core values of Ascent

We can offer you:

• An exciting opportunity to develop within this role
• Comprehensive induction programme
• Opportunity to work in settings which value multi-disciplinary ways of working
• An opportunity to work with highly-skilled professionals who love what they do
• A comprehensive wellbeing and support package for staff

This is an exceptional opportunity to make a difference within a positive and exciting environment. If you share our community’s ethos of diversity and collaboration, then we would be delighted to hear from you.

For an informal discussion about this post please contact Richie Dunn, Associate Head of Academy by email: View email address on northeastjobs.org.uk .

To apply for this post please click on 'Apply Now' and login to/ create your NEJobs account.

The Job Description and Person Specification for this post can be viewed in the Supporting Documents section of this advert.

Closing Date: Friday 9th October 2026 at 9.00am
Interview Dates:
Practical Assesment - Thursday 22nd October 2026
Formal Interview - Tuesday 3rd November 2026

Please note - if you are appointed, you will be subject to an online search. You will then have the opportunity to address any issues of concern that come up during your recruitment process.

The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people with Special Needs and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore will be subject to a DBS check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.