HOSPITALITY students at Wiltshire College & University Centre are getting valuable kitchen experience thanks to collaborations with a trio of prestigious venues.
A partnership with five star Bishopstrow House near Warminster and an agreement with Bowood Hotel, Golf Club and Spa, near Chippenham, and Babington House, in Frome, is giving Level 3 students the chance to test their skills alongside top class professionals.
Steve Lloyd, Deputy Head of Hospitality, has used his network of contacts and the college’s reputation for producing excellent chefs, to broker the placements, which he says is giving students invaluable insight into the levels needed to build a career in top kitchens.
“We have had a partnership with the Kaleidoscope Group, which owns Bishopstrow, for two years and it has been fantastic for the students,” he says. “We send one at a time for a few weeks and they get the chance to work in the different areas of the kitchen on all types of service.
“They work hard and the great thing is they are observing all the time they are there, absorbing what is going on and relating it to what they have learned with us.”
He said working alongside experienced chefs gives the students a taste of the reality of kitchen life. “They are doing everything from prep to service to plating up,” he said.
“Bishopstrow House has a range of menus, everything from fine dining to a sandwich at lunchtime and it’s all completed to a certain specification and to a very high standard. Even making a sandwich, which is basic, they have high standards and signature style.
“That’s great because the students are learning skills and discipline, which I think is good for them. They learn that a kitchen is a busy place, and you have to be consistent, get your head down and get on with it.”
With final exams awaiting the students at the end of the year, the experience of helping produce perfectly presented dishes will help, says Steve. “I’ve told them that the placements can only help their presentation skills because they’ll see the discipline that goes into plating up the dishes there,” he says.
“It’s all about finesse and if you can get it right once, you can do it 100 times, that’s the key.”
The placements are just one way the college’s hospitality team tries to open students’ eyes to the possibilities once they have their qualifications. Last year they visited an Army catering unit in Winchester and have previously been to specialist ready meal producer Apetito in Trowbridge.
A visit to the Royal United Hospital in Bath to tour its catering operation is also planned. “We want the students to see how big the industry is and what the opportunities are,” says Steve. “Wherever people meet, there will be food and we want our students to understand how far the skills they learn here can take them.”
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