Cookery Students visit Bryanston School in Blandford to get a Different Perspective on the Chef Experience

Fifteen students travelled by minibus from the Level 3 Lansdowne complex at Bournemouth and Poole College on the NVQ3 Advanced Diploma in Professional Cookery went on a visit to Bryanston School with their tutors Stephen West and Mark Alderman on 17^th April.

Students met with Dan Stokes Deputy General Manager, in the Catering services team at the school. Dan is an alumnus of Bournemouth and Poole College. He gave a presentation about the Catering department, with 130 staff, both full-time and part-time. 

The talk went over career opportunities, Dan’s career path and the history of Bryanston School; this covered all aspects of the school including fees, school activities, class sizes and student support. Students are currently on a one-year course, but have progressed from Level 2.  Students asked questions relating to Dan’s career progression, cost per person, per day for a meal, other events that Bryanston hosts, including weddings, events at Henley Regatta and the school’s main strengths and ethos.

From the students’ perspective of the trip; they were able to experience the self-service dining room, that the staff and pupils of Bryanston have available to them, offering a choice of hot and cold foods including, burgers, lasagne, salad bar, a choice of vegetables and cold meats, amongst an array of other foods.

Catherine Harris, a student attending the trip said: “I can say that myself and my friends enjoyed the trip; something completely different to what we'd seen before. The sports department was very impressive, their canteen was also nice, and I enjoyed the vegetarian options they had.”

Stephen West, Lecturer in Food Preparation and Cookery said: “This was an interesting trip for both the students and tutors, as not every student is suited to the hotel/restaurant side of hospitality and this shows one of the other possible options out there.”

As part of the extracurricular trips for cookery students, the team will be hosting a visit from the Navy in the near future, also.