Catering students at Market Field College in Clacton were treated to a glimpse of what a future career in the baking industry would look like after after completing a four-part industrial baking workshop hosted by Zeelandia UK.
Market Field College aims to provide education for students with moderate learning difficulties and invited several students with a passion for food to learn more about the science behind food and the day-to-day operations of a busy bakery.
The partnership with Market Field College was first announced in March of last year, as the company explained this gave them the opportunity to “help educate the next generation on a possible career in baking”.
At the four-day workshop, students had the opportunity to learn from the technical expertise of the company’s bakers while baking bread, cakes, and pastries with production process guidance.
Since participating in the workshops, Year 13 student, Bradley, has taken up a work placement within the canteen of a local primary school making school lunches, putting his new baking expertise to good practice.
Bradley said: “I enjoyed the Zeelandia baking sessions because we made many things I had not made before. The staff were friendly and helpful, and they taught me to make sourdough bread, which was delicious. I listened to the baker’s instructions and it has helped to give me a better understanding of what’s required in my work placement.”
“At Zeelandia, we are committed to driving the commercial bakery industry forward and recognise that as a global food and bakery business, we play a key role in this journey. Through our partnerships with Market Field College, University College Birmingham, the National Bakery School and ABST, we are helping to inspire the next generation of industry professionals and love to see examples – like Lewis’ – where our support has driven real career progress. We intend to keep in close contact with Market Field College so we can inspire the next intake of students and run further workshops in the future,” said Andrew Taylor, Product Development Manager and CSR ambassador of Zeelandia UK.
“The Zeelandia UK programme offers our students an opportunity to develop their patisserie skills and knowledge of industry practice, exploring commercial processes, facilities and equipment beyond that available to us in-house. Students are then able to apply these skills within vocational learning and work placements; an example of this is our ‘Ambition Café’, where programme participants support the production of an array of cakes, cookies and pastries to sell to the public,” added Duncan Thomas, Head of Market Field College. “Such context-based learning has served well to develop understanding, foster self-belief and promote aspirational thinking amongst our students. We very much hope to remain part of the Zeelandia programme moving forward for all that it offers our students.”
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