Level 4 Diploma in Professional Culinary Arts

Programme Overview

The CTH Diploma in Professional Culinary Arts was carefully developed in partnership with Gordon Ramsay's Tante Marie Culinary Academy, to provide students with an excellent advanced set of skills for food preparation in a professional environment - a perfect first step to a rewarding culinary career.

It has since been updated further in collaboration with our industry partners Ashburton Chef Academy and Leiths School of Food and Wine.

The qualification is a mix of practical and theoretical sessions but with a strong emphasis on the practical element. As well as the key cooking subjects, the curriculum also covers menu planning and budgeting, food safety and other professional kitchen skills.

The qualification develops culinary skills by working in a kitchen environment which will be enhanced through demonstrations, appropriate theory sessions. Students develop knife skills, familiarity with produce, and master many professional skills such as butchery, fish preparation and pastry work, to an appropriate level.

This Level 4 Diploma in Professional Culinary Arts is regulated by People First, the Sector Skills Council and Ofqual and carries 84 credits within the government’s Qualifications Credit Framework. This enables students to gain credit towards any future qualifications they may wish to take, be they at university or CTH accredited colleges around the world.

Entry Requirements

All applicants must be pre-approved by CTH prior to admission. They should typically have completed a recognised culinary qualification at Level 3 or hold extensive career experience.

Admission to this course is only for those students that have the determination and aptitude to achieve the very highest standards of culinary achievement.

Applicants will be expected to be joining a programme that is specifically approved by CTH as being of sufficient rigour to bring students to a highly professional standard of culinary proficiency commensurate with Level 4 Diploma achievement.

Students must have sufficient English to complete their written assessments for this qualification.

Centre Requirements

Teaching Centres must have access to a commercial kitchen environment, with associated food storage areas, professional equipment and related books. The kitchen may take the form of a full production kitchen and/or a skills based kitchen.

Staff delivering and assessing the this course should be fully familiar with current practice standards in the sector and have experience of cooking at the very highest level.

Students will be required to wear suitable protective clothing, including Chef’s whites, headwear and safety shoes.