Jewish Care has launched its Housekeeping Academy and Chef Academy to train staff to provide hospitality services to its residents, retirement living tenants and community centre members.

All new hospitality staff will go through the week-long practical Housekeeping Academy training as part of their induction when they join Jewish Care.

Daniel Carmel-Brown, Jewish Care’s chief executive, said: “Our catering and housekeeping staff are a key part of the team and they play a vital role, interacting with clients, residents and staff each day. We believe that this industry leading initiative will create fantastic opportunities for our housekeeping staff and chefs and for those joining the organisation who are interested in furthering their professional qualifications in an excellent team at Jewish Care.”

Stella Adjei, who joined the organisation last year and works at Jewish Care’s Otto Schiff care home as part of the housekeeping team, said: “I’m proud to be in the first cohort of the Housekeeping Academy and I’m excited to be doing this training. I’ve enjoyed the practical side learning how to do things and the way it was explained was very clear.”

Saraswoti Pithakotemagar, who is part of the housekeeping team at Jewish Care’s Pears Court at Sandringham, added: “It’s very good for Jewish Care and it’s very good for me too. I love working at Jewish Care and I enjoy seeing the tenants; they are very appreciative of the work we do and some like to have a chat whilst we tidy and clean. I’m so pleased to have this opportunity for the training and I’m definitely ready to share this with my colleagues when I’m back at work.”

Jason Cloete, Jewish Care business manager, who is a chef by trade, created and oversees the Housekeeping and Chef Academy. He said: “These are really positive programmes and I’m so pleased our graduates feel they are learning new skills that will help them in their roles and will continue with bitesize learning. It’s often the attention to detail that makes all the difference to people, so that they feel special and cared for.

“The Housekeeping Academy and Chef Academy will help us to ensure that we are providing an excellent standard of care for people across our care homes, retirement living apartments and community centres. The tailor-made chef’s training is unique with specific attention to being a chef in a Jewish organisation. I believe that initiatives like these will create even better services for older people in our care as well as making us an employer of choice and the market leader in the sector.”

Jewish Care will launch the new Chef Academy in September. It will include an internationally accredited qualification incorporating chef skills and knowledge, along with all the chefs need to know as a faith organisation. The first cohort of ten students will complete a Level 2 production chef diploma over a 12-month period and there are opportunities for apprenticeships. In conjunction with the Chef Academy, Jewish Care will be running monthly workshops with all chefs across the organisation, focusing on aspects of food in Jewish life, tying the training in with food for festivals throughout the Jewish year.

Head of hospitality, James Golding, commented: “I feel very proud of the amazing work the hospitality team continue to deliver on a day-to-day basis, Jason and his team have delivered the exceptional Housekeeping Academy and Chef Academy which will ensure we continue to drive innovation and stay at the forefront of exemplary service and delivery for all our residents, tenants and members.”