ESSENTIAL COOKERY SKILLS 4-WEEK COURSE

Gordon tries to visit the Academies when he can and loves following what you’re all cooking on social media. Our courses are taught by brilliant chef teachers who uphold Gordon's ethos and high standards, and are able to pass on lots of knowledge from their own experience in restaurants and kitchens around the world.

We operate as an Approved teaching Centre for CTH (Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality) and as such, follow the official curriculum set to their standards. All exams and results are validated by CTH. 

For our 4-Week Essentials Cookery Skills course, you do not need any prior training or experience. 

This course is suitable for anyone aged 16+ interested in food and cooking, and looking to improve their skills and overall knowledge. 

For our 12-Week Advanced Professional Cookery course, prior qualfications or experience are required.

Participants are required to have at least one of the following:

• Our 4-Week Essential Cookery Skills award
• Another CTH-accredited Level 2 culinary qualification
• An equivalent foundation or entry-level cooking qualification from another provider
• Relevant work experience within a professional kitchen - this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis to ensure the right level of skills and knowledge to take part

 Participants are also required to have a Level 2 Food Safety or equivalent Food Hygiene qualification prior to starting.

Each day will be slightly different, with different themes, skills and dishes covered. The level of intensity will alos differ between courses, but an example day may be:

Arrive at our Woking Academy from 9am to ensure you are ready to start setting up in the kitchen from 9.30am. You will have the chance to change into your chef whites, explore the cookbook library, and grab a tea or coffee before starting the day.

After setting up your kitchen, teaching will start at 10am. Spend the morning learning from chef demonstrations or tackling the theory of food hygiene and safety practises. 

Break for lunch and to refuel ahead of an afternoon of hands-on cooking. On some days there will be food from the morning session, but it will be required to bring your own lunch or pop out to grab something locally on other days. 

Get to grips with 2-3 new recipes in the afternoon, making these individually to practise particular skills, such as cooking meat or fish, preparing vegetables, making doughs and presenting desserts. 

Once the kitchen is in order, pack up around 4pm to head home with the elements you have made in the afternoon. 

All courses include days that require travel to other locations for restaurant kitchen visits or specialist training. All details will be communicated ahead of each day.

Please let us know in your booking form if you have any particular allergies or dietary requirements. This will give us the opportunity then to discuss with you the specifics of the course to ensure you are comfortable with taking part and that it is safe for you to do so. 

Some recipes within the course may be able to be adapted, however, the nature of the course and skills required to be covered, mean that some recipes and skills will not be able to be changed. 

To discuss anything ahead of booking, please contact us.

We unfortunately cannot guarantee an allergen or nut-free environment in any of our kitchens.

As with an dietary requirements, please let us know in your booking form, or contact us, if there are any particular support needs that may enable you to best participate and excel in the course, so that we can discuss these with you ahead of the course starting. 

Please note that our courses are currently only taught in English, so a good understanding of the English language is required.

Participants on all culinary qualifications are required to wear suitable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for a kitchen environment. 

Please bring/wear:

• Chef White's - a clean chef's jacket for each day of the course
• Non-slip, flat, closed-toe shoes - specialist kitchen shoes are widely available
• Food containers - to take away dishes made at the end of the day, as you will be making a lot over the course!

We will provide an apron to wear each day over your whites. There is no need for a chef's hat, however long hair must be tied back or contained in the kitchen.

All equipment and ingredients are provided. We do not advise bringing any of your own equipment (such as knives), so that everyone in the class are using the same items for consistency. 

Lunch:

• There will be a lunch break each day with opportunity to get some fresh air or a break from the kitchen
• Some days will involve cooking dishes before lunch, however we advise either bringing some lunch with you or popping out into Woking town centre (on the doorstep) to grab some sustenance. There will be plenty of food to take home at the end of the day!

All travel and accommodation must be arranged by the participant and it is their responsibility to ensure they arrive promptly for each session. 

The course will be taking place at our Woking Academy, so please have a look at our Contact us page for all location and travel advice, or get in touch with us directly if we can help recommend local hotels and car parks.

Any sessions that will take place in another location, such as a day work experience in a restaurant or training in our London Academy, will be communicated to you in plenty of time to arrange additional transport. 

We have limited places available on our courses, so require a deposit to be paid in order to reserve the space.

In accordance with your Statutory Rights, you can absolutely cancel the place within 14 days for a full refund and we aim to speak to every participant during this time to ensure the course is right for you, and answer any questions or concerns you may have about the course. 

Alternatively, we advise giving us a call on 020 7352 2442 or dropping us an email on woking@gordonramsayacademy.com ahead of booking, to discuss the course in more detail and ensure you are totally confident in your commitment to taking part. 

You can pay the full course fee on booking if you would prefer to do so, or just the deposit of £250 to secure your place.

The remaining balance will be due 8 weeks prior to the start of the course and must be paid in order to keep your place. You will receive a reminder email to pay the balance which can be done through your Gordon Ramsay Academy booking account.

If you have any problems with making the payment, we can send you a payment link, so [lease do just let us know on 020 7352 2442 or woking@gordonramsayacademy.com

If you require an extension to pay the fees or would like to discuss any delays to payment, please do let us know as soon as possible so that we can review this with you. 

Please note that at present, we are unfortunately not able to offer any funding or payment plan options. 

When you make a booking, you can sign up with a password to create an Account. You'll be able to view all your orders here and pay any remaining balances in line with the requirements of your course. 

Log in to My Account

You can cancel or change your course booking within 14 days of making the booking for a full refund of any deposit or fees paid. 

After this time and up to 8 weeks prior to the course start date, you will be able to reschedule your booking to another course (subject to availability), however if cancelled within this time, we reserve the right to retain any deposit paid for the course. 

If the course is cancelled within 8 weeks of the course start date, or at any time after the course has started, no rescheduling will be available and there will be no refund of all fees paid.  

Please see our Terms and Conditions for full details on cancelling or changing bookings for our qualifications. 

If any sessions within the course are missed, it will be up to the discretion of the teaching team and CTH to determine if this affects the participant's ability to complete their coursework and take the exam(s). 

If any exams are missed, the opportunity to resit the exam is subject to the policies of the exam provider. 

Please see our Terms and Conditions for further information. 

You and your dishes will be photographed to create your recipe coursework, and any final practical exams may be filmed for independent assessment and validation. 

We’d love you to share your photos and experiences with others on social media – tag @gordonramsayacademy and show everyone what you’ve been cooking! Please do just ensure you are only photographing your own creations and yourself. 

We please just ask that as this an assessed course, you are mindful not to let any personal photography or filming disrupt yours, or other's, learning.

We often photograph and film classes to share in our social and marketing but if you’re not comfortable with this, you can choose to opt out in the booking form and we’ll always check with you in class as well. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.  

Please see all Gordon Ramsay Academy booking Terms and Conditions here.

Culinary Qualifications are covered in Point 21. 

If you have any questions at all about what happens at the Academy, how bookings or vouchers work, your account, or how we can make sure you have the best experience you possibly can, just get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to help.