Young Chefs’ and Young Bakers’ Academy

Are you aged 13-16 and want to learn about cooking or baking? Do you have the motivation to learn on a Saturday at one of the leading colleges in the UK?

Our Young Chefs’ Academy and Young Bakers’ Academy at Westminster Kingsway College have been the starting point for many of the college’s successful students and graduates. Many of our students progress on to apply for our Professional Chef Diploma, Chef Apprenticeships or Patisserie Diplomas.

No formal qualifications are required but applicants should have a strong interest in their chosen subject. Our Saturday schools for 13 to 16-year-olds offer a great opportunity, excellent tuition and a certificate on completion. Courses take place at our Victoria Centre in central London.

Our courses will help you:

• Develop your cooking or baking talent
• Take pride in what you cook or bake
• Find out what it’s like to have a career as a chef or specialist chef

You will learn to cook or bake classical dishes, knife skills and food preparation techniques. Recipe packs are issued on the first Saturday of class. You will get to take whatever you cook or bake home and will receive a certificate at our graduation presentation lunch.

The Young Chefs’ Academy focuses on chef skills and cooking and all applicants should be interested in learning to be a chef, whilst the Young Bakers’ Academy focuses on patisserie and baking skills and all applicants should be interested in learning to be a specialist chef.

• £100 per person – all ingredients, chef jacket and knives provided
• 5-week Saturday school – class times are 9am – 3.30pm (with a half-hour lunch)

Planned Start Dates for 2024/25 are:

• 9 November 2024
• 11 January 2025
• 1 March 2025
• 26 April 2025
• Saturday, 31 May 2025

Book Now!

Register your place using our booking forms below.

Testimonials

“As a parent to see my son want to pursue a career that for me I have enjoyed for 30+ years is a real joy. Gone are the days of it being seen as just a job, it has now elevated itself to a career of choice for so many. With my son having GCSEs he wants to look at a career where he can express himself, and let others enjoy his work will be a real triumph for him. Being a Chef, or other role within the hospitality sector, is not what it used to be, it is something that the ones that take this route get real satisfaction from. The Young Chefs’ Academy Saturday School at Westminster Kingsway College is a fantastic learning opportunity for young people considering a career to train as a Chef.”
Andrew Green, Chief Executive, Craft Guild of Chefs

“The Young Chefs’ Academy Saturday School has been extremely influential in giving numerous young people a career to aspire to when they have done their GCSEs. Unfortunately, schools that understand the value of vocational education in the hospitality industry after GCSEs are in the minority. I would strongly urge young people with a passion for cooking to enrol at the Young Chefs’ Academy at Westminster Kingsway College. This will give you experience in a professional kitchen and you will be able to find out where full-time culinary studies can take you in your career.”
Professor David Foskett, MBE

Sponsored by the Savoy Educational Trust and The Geoffrey Harrison Foundation.