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Coleg y Cymoedd hosted a Catering enrichment session at its Nantgarw campus, inviting pupils from Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni to participate in a professional cookery workshop, through the medium of Welsh.

The group of 30 pupils spent the day in the demo kitchens, which are equipped to the highest industry standard; to practice the skills required for employment in the catering sector.

The session is part of a series of ‘enrichment days’, which are funded by the South East Wales 14-19 Cross boundaries Forum. The aim is to enrich the learning experiences of students from Welsh medium schools by giving them the opportunity to work with the colleges highly experienced staff in a professional catering environment. Similar sessions have been held in Car Maintenance and French, with a future residential workshop planned in Customer Care.

The session at the college was even more productive as five Welsh speaking catering students led the workshops, practising their language skills; the first time in this environment since possibly leaving school.

College Principal, Judith Evans commented “We are very fortunate at Coleg y Cymoedd to have highly skilled staff in this area, able to teach in both Welsh and English and we are happy to encourage the budding chefs of the future to consider a career in professional catering. The pupils were attentive, well behaved and very enthusiastic about using the fantastic facilities at Nantgarw campus and were a real credit to their school.”

The pupils were split in to two groups and each given the task of preparing a main dish – Glamorganshire sausage and a Welsh dessert. Year 11 pupil, Jack Thomas said “I’ve really enjoyed today, I have aspirations to become a chef so this has been great”.

The college works closely with Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni and plans to work with the other Welsh Medium schools throughout Rhondda Cynon Taf and Caerphilly, offering similar workshops.

Cerys Smith, Head of Hospitality at Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni said “Today has been fantastic the pupils have had the opportunity to work in a professional kitchen and use their skills and expertise of the college lecturers which has been very beneficial”.

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