Nursery Cook

Nursery Cook Location: Exeter Salary: £26,100 per annum Contract/Hours: Permanent/Full Time – 40 hours per week Closing date: Midnight on the 5th of January 2026 Interviews: to be held on the 19th of January 2026 Benefits: Time off to recharge - 33 Days leave per year. 24/7 Confidential Helpline speak to trained counsellors any time, 365 days a year, for emotional, wellbeing or mental health support. Enhanced Well-being: 8 sessions In-Person, Phone, or Online Counselling or CBT Treat yourself: Staff discounts portal and blue light card with 15,000 + retailers Salary Finance – access to financial advice and the ability to manage savings or loans directly from your salary. Childcare Discount – A whopping 60% off childcare within our nurseries and out of school clubs Up to 3 Days Dependency Leave – to care for dependents in an emergency. Paid maternity, adoption, and paternity leave Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities. Secure your future: Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover. We're thrilled that you're considering a career with Spring. Spare us five minutes, and we will tell you what you need to know. Why Spring Nurseries Imagine a place where laughter echoes, imaginations run wild, and every day is a new adventure. That's Spring Nursery! We're not just a nursery; we are a family dedicated to creating a joyful and nurturing environment where children thrive. As part of Action for Children, we're on a mission to provide outstanding early education that's accessible to all. At Spring, we are committed to supporting your career growth! Check out our Spring Career Progression Map attached to this advert, which highlights the options for progression into a specialist role. A bit about the role: We're looking for Nursery Cook to join the team at Spring Cedars. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone with experience in a larger or commercial kitchen who's ready to take on a rewarding role preparing nutritious, tasty meals for young children every day. As our cook, you'll take full ownership of the kitchen working from our set menus to plan, prepare and serve balanced child friendly meals. You'll manage stock levels, place food orders, and always maintain excellent hygiene and safety standards. You'll take pride in keeping the kitchen spotless, well organised, and running smoothly. This is a Monday to Friday, 8.30 AM to 5:00 PM role, where you'll be responsible for providing breakfast, healthy snacks, lunch and tea for the children. A bit about the nursery: Spring Cedars has just undergone a full refurbishment and is ready to welcome children in a fresh, bright environment. From January, the Kitchin will feature brand new facilities, providing an even better space for meals and snack times. What you’ll be doing In the role of Nursery Cook, you'll be: Planning healthy meals, with staff that are nutritious, varied and tasty, considering the children's dietary and cultural requirements. Taking full responsibility for compliance with all relevant food hygiene and Health & Safety requirements. Ensuring that all stock is order and replenished as needed, that food is correctly stored in line with guidance and that stock is rotated and all equipment is kept clean and in good repair. Keeping waste to a minimum, ensuring our impact on the environment is as minimal as it can be, and costs are kept low. Managing the food budget and taking responsibility for the expenditure and invoicing. Always following latest legislation in relation to food and food hygiene and taking part in all necessary and required training as needed. What we need from you In the role of Nursery Cook, we're ideally looking for someone who has: A basic food hygiene certificate - Level 3 preferred but can be obtained in the role. A passion for cooking and following the spring menu and inputting new ideas and recipes into menu updates. Excellent organisational skills. Experience in a similar role working in a catering environment. Contact: If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Team at RecruitmentService@actionforchildren.org.uk quoting reference 12353 Diversity, Equality and Inclusion At Spring we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under-represented within the organisation. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups. Male staff are often under-represented within this sector, and we would like to encourage more male applicants for our roles. We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice. Don't meet every single requirement? If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with the job description, we'd love you to apply anyway. You might just be the perfect person for this role, or another role within the Action for Children family. Application Process Please note we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. There are 5 sections for you to complete - Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration – please refer to the JD and Person Specification when applying. We also want to know what unique qualities you can bring to help us reach our vision for children and families. Talent Pool: We're sure you've got what it takes to join our ambitious team. If you're unsuccessful this time around, we'd like to hold your details in case similar jobs come up that you might be better suited for. But feel free to let us know if you'd rather we didn't do that. If you need support with your application, please contact our Recruitment Partner We'll be happy to give you any support you require. Want to know more about Spring and Oscars? Check out our socials on Linkedin, Facebook or Youtube. Job Description See below for further information about working with us: Employee Reward Booklet Spring Early Years Career Pathway