APPROVED DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD VOLUNTEERING ACTIVITIES
VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES for GOLD, SILVER & BRONZE D OF E
COMMUNITY CHEF AWARD
The Organic Cookery School are delighted to be able to support young people as a D of E Approved Volunteering Provider. We offer structured and flexible home based volunteering opportunities to teenagers and young people across the UK, through our ‘Community Chef’ award.
do you want to use your love of cooking to make a difference?
There are many ways you can use your cooking skills and enthusiasm in a voluntary capacity to benefit your local community. Our Community Chef Award will guide you through your volunteering section, with flexible and open-ended actitivites and support from an experienced D of E Assessor. The award is available over 3 or 6 months (£99), or 12 - 18 months (£149), and meets the requirements of the volunteering section of your Bronze, Silver or Gold award.
what does the community chef award include?
1) TRAINING
All participants are given the opportunity to complete a short accredited online Food Safety and Hygiene training course before they start their volunteering. This will give you the knowledge and confidence to prepare meals and/or baked goods with the same hygiene standards as a café or restaurant (and is great for your CV too!).
This accredited Food Safety and Hygiene Certificate is included in the cost of your volunteering programme (and is normally valid for 3 years).
2) SUPPORT IN LETTING PEOPLE KNOW
Armed with your food safety qualification, you are ready to start planning your volunteering activities and letting people know what you are offering in the community.
The Community Chef Award offers resources and support which will help you find local people or organisations who can benefit from your time and cooking skills over the coming months. We will provide some useful templates for offering your services, checking food allergies and intolerances, and for gathering feedback.
Then it’s time to get cooking! Here are a few ideas:
· Volunteer to cook and share a meal or baked goods with people in your community e.g. a neighbour or family friend who has been in hospital, had a baby or injury; an older person, or a family accessing Food Bank support.
· Offer your time to local Food Banks/Food Waste programmes - we will provide a template letter to introduce yourself and explain what you can contribute.
· If you love baking, and are also interested in fundraising, you could donate your baked goods to local charity bake sales, get involved in national campaigns (e.g. the Macmillan coffee morning), or even organise your own bake sale to support a local good cause of your choice. We will help with a diary of monthly national events, a guide to setting up and running a successful bake sale, and a some of our most popular bake sale recipes to get you started.
Share your progress:
Keep a record of your volunteering progress through photos, feedback and self-evaluation. Complete your Community Chef log book, and check in monthly with your assessor (or more often, if you wish). They are available to support you throughout your award and will complete the assessor report for your volunteering section when completed.
Make the most of social media:
Social media can be a fantastic way to document your progress and raise awareness for any local community organisations or national campaigns you are supporting, as well as the D of E. We will provide guidance and ideas on using the internet and social media safely.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
The Organic Cookery School Community Chef Award costs between £99 and £149 (depending on the length of your commitment). This includes an accredited Food Safety and Hygiene qualification, resources and recipes to give you inspiration, and support from your assesor for the duration of your award. The Organic Cookery School is a not for profit organisation and any proceeds directly benefit our free community cookery projects for teenagers, families and young people on low incomes.
when can i start?
The Organic Cookery School’s D of E Community Chef Volunteering Award launched in 2020.
We enrol a new Community Chef group on the first of every month, subject to demand. After purchase we will email you and ask you confirm your preferred start date.
2024 start dates (all for 3, 6, 12 or 18 months): 1st Jan, 1st Feb, 1st March, 1st Apr, 1st May, 1st Jun, 1st Jul, 1st Aug, 1st Sep, 1st Oct, 1st Nov, 1st Dec (subject to demand).
“A great volunteering activity - my daughter has ASD and social anxiety so it was a Godsend to find a structured programme which guided and helped her complete her volunteering. She’s grown in confidence and loved every minute.Thank you for all your support!”
FAQS
Here are a few of the questions we’ve been asked about the course which may help you decide if it’s right for you.
will you teach me to cook?
The Community Chef Award is not a cookery course. We do recommend some recipes as part of your resource kit, including those from our popular D of E STREET FOOD and BRILLIANT BAKING cookery skills courses.
Can I complete the community chef award with a friend (in the same kitchen?)
Yes, you are very welcome to buddy up with a friend! When you enrol, we will send out a pre-course questionnaire (normally to the adult who purchased the course) and in this we ask if you plan to complete the course with a friend. We will then make sure you are allocated the same assessor. Working through the award with a friend is a great idea, and often means you can save time (and money) on shopping and support each other.
How much does the course cost?
We are offering a special launch price for the Community Chef Award until 31st December 2022.
LAUNCH OFFER: 3 - 6 month Community Chef Awards - £99. 12 or 18 months - £149. This includes access to all materials for two years, plus online support from one of our experienced Duke of Edinburgh Assessors.
Do I need to buy organic ingredients?
The Community Chef Award supports the volunteering section of your Duke of Edinburgh Award (not your shopping preferences), and you are welcome to buy whichever type of ingredients suit your budget. You will notice that we choose organic, fair-trade and seasonal ingredients, whenever we can, and we are happy to share why we might prioritise organic or non-organic for certain foods over others, with those who wish to find out more. Our experience is that many of the families who choose to learn to cook with us prefer to minimise non-organic residues in their food, and the best way to have a control over what’s in your food is, of course, to cook it from scratch wherever possible.
Do I need an adult around when I’m cooking?
With any practical activity, whether it be home study or otherwise, safety has to be a priority. We require all applications from students under 18 to be signed off by a parent or legal guardian, and we ask that all students read our ‘Keeping Safe in the Kitchen’ guidelines (covering basic food safety and hygiene and what to do in the case of an accident or injury in the kitchen) BEFORE they start cooking. If you are helping in a community cookery setting (e.g. a soup kitchen or community cafe) you will need to follow the organisation’s procedures for keeping safe.
is this course suitable for special diets?
The Organic Cookery School’s Community Chef Award allows you to share your cooking skills and from recipes of your choosing. We supply a bank of recipes to get your started and can support you to adapt recipes to avoid major allergens, wherever possible, or to adapt to plant-based, Kosher or Halal principles.
What happens if I get behind with my volunteering?
Over the next 3, 6, 12 or 18 months, you will have the opportunity to cook regularly and share your finished dishes/bakes with your local community. The award is meant to be fun and relaxed, and to fit around your life and your studies, so please don’t worry if illness, or other unexpected interruptions mean you miss a couple of weeks. As long as you show a regular commitment (averaging an hour a week, or a couple of hours a fortnight) you will fulfill your volunteering requirement.
Is there any support for lower income families?
Over 70% of the cookery classes we run in the community are offered free of charge or with a large subsidy to vulnerable children, families and young people. We work with schools, children’s centres and community support organisations to ensure those who would most benefit from these subsidised classes are able to access them. Every purchase of an Organic Cookery School’s Duke of Edinburgh Cookery Course goes towards supporting these community initiatives.
Can I complete my skills section with you too?
Absolutely! We are also approved providers (AAPs) for the skills section of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and offer two popular home study cookery skills course which will complement your volunteering section: STREET FOOD and BRILLIANT BAKING.
can you do this course if you aren’t working towards a duke of Edinburgh award?
We have had lots of enquiries from parents wishing to buy this programme for their son or daughter, even though they aren’t currently D of E participants, as well as from parents/adults who want to join in too.
Our Community Chef Award works well for several higher level guiding/scouts awards, as well as other challenges requiring a regular commitment to volunteering in your community.
Please contact us if you would like to know more.
“I love cooking and especially baking and to be able to help other people as a Community Chef really improved my confidence. I donated cakes and cookies to my local homeless shelter and made labels so people knew what ingredients were inside. It was fun researching recipes and choosing bakes that would travel well, and I received lots of nice comments. I have completed my Award but will carry on in the school holidays as it’s important to let people know people care about them and I just wanted to help cheer people up.
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“Both Izzi and I were really pleased by our neighbour’s reactions which were beyond our expectations. It was really pleasurable to be able to help them and helped Izzi with her confidence as well. It’s a great volunteering experience.”