Nursery: Ickle Pickles Nursery School, 1 School Mews, Iwade, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 8UW
Hours: Full Time, 40 hours per week Monday - Friday
Salary: £12.75 per hour

Benefits: Performance related bonus, 50% childcare discount, wellness day and much much more.

At Ickle Pickles, we pride ourselves on providing a nurturing and inclusive environment where everyone of our children is supported to learn and grow at their own pace. Our experienced team brings a wealth of early years knowledge and insight, and we know that each child has their own unique journey.

We’re proud to have our own Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) who works closely with both families and practitioners to identify and support additional needs. This personalised approach is supported further by our parent forum committee, ensuring open communication, shared celebrations, and meaningful partnerships with families.

Our children spend dedicated time outdoors, engaging with nature through a variety of rich and inspiring activities. Mealtimes are a special part of the day—children enjoy healthy, nutritious meals together in our warm, central dining space. We also embrace cultural celebrations through themed menus, offering new flavours and learning opportunities.

As part of the Kingsferry Collaboration, we share best practices, solve challenges together, and support each other to continually deliver the highest standards of care and education.

Who & What is Storal?  

It’s our collective group of Nurseries that we are happily a part of here at Ickle Pickles. Storal stands for high quality outcomes for children and are passionate about Early Years. Bringing your whole self is a must if that’s pink hair, being Neurospicy or having a unique pastime, we encourage it all.  Your unique self is what makes our Nursery even better. Check out our website to learn about our leaders and the expertise they bring to our Storal community. 

About you
You are a dedicated, Level 2 Food and Hygiene qualified cook with a solid understanding of Health and Safety regulations and COSHH and you're looking for a new role in a fun, friendly team, where you can thrive and make the most of your culinary skills.

What you'll be doing
As a Nursery Cook, you’ll assist in preparing nutritious, freshly made meals while maintaining the highest standards of safety and hygiene in the nursery kitchen at all times. Your flexibility and reliability will ensure the smooth operation of the kitchen.

Day to day you will find yourself;

• Catering for children with specific dietary needs
• Working to an extremely high level when it comes to the relevant Food and Hygiene, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health-Food Safety, Health and Safety and Ofsted guidelines and regulations
• Ensuring that all children are kept safe and have rich stimulating eating experiences
• Maintaining stock levels and ensuring stock rotation
• Following COSHH and other relevant guidelines

What you'll need

• Level 2 Food and Hygiene
• Experience in a commercial kitchen as an assistant cook/chef or something very similar
• Knowledge of Health and Safety regulations and COSHH

Why work for us

Family Friendly Benefits- enhanced parents leave including maternity, paternity & adoption & Childcare Discount at 50% off all fees

Wellbeing & Refuel Benefits- extra day off per year for your wellbeing and access to modern-day, progressive mental health support & sick pay 

Financial Perks- emergency cash access to your pay before pay date, free financial coaching 

Social Perks – online community for peer-to-peer socializing eg. book club, pets club, pinecones club & continuous professional development accessible to you at anytime 

 Plus, many more.  

We care about our people.  

 Curious to know more?

 Storal is the highest of standards when it coming to safeguarding, the welfare of children and creating a work environment the encourages feedback-discussion-resilience. We take our role in the safety of children, our families and our team extremely seriously. As governed by the EYFS, we have a designated safeguarding lead in each setting and all staff (and volunteers) complete a through compliance checks prior to employment including employment references & DBS.