Plumpton College and the Jim Jackson Foundation have partnered on a new Level 3 Lead Baker Apprenticeship.
Now in its third year, the collaboration between the higher education institute and the disadvantaged youth enabling charity – both based in East Sussex – is aimed at assisting the career development of students facing obstacles.
This year the initiative has seen 22-year-old Grace Turner-Higgins become the latest Level 3 bakery apprentice at Plumpton College, which began training the UK’s first cohort of Level 3 students just a few months ago.
The Jim Jackson Foundation said it had become interested in Grace after learning how she had overcome anxiety and agoraphobia to land a full-time job as a waitress in a Filipino restaurant in Hove.
“I’m feeling very grateful, this is a life changing opportunity for me,” said Turner-Higgins. “It’s my dream job and I’m very excited. This apprenticeship will give me the opportunity to learn as much as I can, becoming skilled in a friendly, supportive environment so that one day I can have my own business”.
The new apprentice will spend the next two years studying bakery skills and theory at the newly built AgriFood Centre within the college’s campus at the foot of the South Downs. She will also learn the craft of commercial baking at the ‘Plumpton School of Bakery’ back-of-house training kitchen in One Garden Brighton, a public destination garden situated in Stanmer Park and managed by the college.
There, Grace will work alongside head baker and former Level 3 apprentice Sophie Harman in producing a daily range for the onsite café, One Kitchen. This includes sweet treats such as cinnamon buns, coffee cake, flapjacks, and cookies, as well as lunch options like focaccia, press sandwiches, and sausage rolls.
“I know first-hand, that this two-year bakery apprenticeship at Plumpton College provides award-winning mentoring, teaching, resources and facilities that enable apprentices to learn, develop and lead,” attested Harman. “Learning how to organise and implement all aspects of a commercial bakery from start to finish will prepare you for a variety of careers in the bakery industry.”
The bakery apprenticeship is said to hold special relevance to the Jim Jackson Foundation as its eponymous founder spent his late thirties working at Unilever’s Port Sunlight site in the Wirral, which produced edible fats.
“Our partnership with Plumpton College continues to be one of the most meaningful parts of the Foundation’s work,” commented Ben Woodley, trustee at the Jim Jackson Foundation. “We’re proud to stand alongside an institution that shares our commitment to nurturing talent and expanding opportunity.”
Woodley noted that the charity’s support was going further this year by providing 50% of the funding for Turner-Higgins’ apprenticeship, with the college accounting for the remainder. “Her passion and determination to overcome her disadvantaged circumstance embody everything the Foundation strives to champion,” Woodley said about the new student.
Apprenticeships are seen as vital to the craft bakery sector which is struggling to cope with a critical shortage of skilled workers. To address this issue, bakery manufacturer The Bread Factory introduced 10 new Level 2 apprentices at Plumpton College last year as part of a programme called ‘Growing Bakers’.
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