Gordonstoun and Leiths cook up a storm with new partnership
Monday 15 September 2025
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Leiths School of Food & Wine, founded by Dame Prue Leith, has trained some of the most gifted chefs in the UK, including Other graduates have gone on to become TV presenters, award-winning writers and food educators. Since 1996, the cookery school has provided high quality cookery lessons for children aged 5 to 18 years old. |
Gordonstoun has joined up with the renowned cookery school Leiths to teach the next generation of talented young chefs.Life skills and cookery qualifications
Gordonstoun has now become one of Leiths Partner Schools, offering senior students the opportunity to gain industry accredited cookery qualifications.
The school is now developing plans to open a bespoke cookery school facility by September next year to encourage more students to get in the kitchen, while offering cookery courses to the local community.
The Leiths Confident Cookery course being delivered to students is being led by the school’s Catering Manager, Jamie Campbell, and Head Chef Ross Burgess, a Quarter Finalist on Masterchef: The Professionals. The students take part in two and half hours of lessons every Saturday, studying online recipe templates the day before to ensure they “hit the ground running”.
They have progressed from serving up dishes such as butternut squash soup with lemongrass and coconut to producing their own Italian breads and numerous Japanese
Jamie Campbell, Gordonstoun Catering Manager, said:
“The resources produced by Leiths really support and inspire the students to raise the bar in producing dishes of quality and developing technical skills they can use across a range of foods.
“It’s not so much the dish but the transferrable skills that they can use across a range of dishes. It’s about opening up their minds so they can learn more. The students are also being equipped with key life-skills, something they will have for the rest of their lives.
“The support from the school has been great, with a commitment to finding donors to complete a bespoke cookery school by September 2026. This will greatly enhance what we currently do, enabling us to offer a better experience for our budding young cookery students, while working with the local community to offer cookery classes and host functions.”
Seven students aged between 17 and 18 years are taking part in the one-year course.
As a Leiths
Gordonstoun head chef Ross Burgess said:
“It’s been a fantastic experience working with the students and seeing them develop. Above all they care, you can really see that in the finished dishes, the passion is definitely there.
“The students have made unbelievable progress and are now at the stage of producing dishes such as Focaccia-style bread with fresh tomato soup and basil oil.
“They have been working in pairs to produce dishes such as sushi with a chilli and soy dipping sauce and tofu ramen with Japanese egg.
“They are producing appealing food which is on-trend and are looking forward to coming to the classes each week. By the time they finish the course they will be fully qualified to pursue a career in hospitality and catering and hopefully a few of them can make a name for themselves.”
Leiths say the accredited cookery qualifications and life-skills cookery courses for students from aged 10 years, enable those taking part to “discover their culinary potential”.
The world of professional catering and hospitality has changed radically in the past ten years. Leiths point to how young people can now take up roles not just as chefs but as journalists and critics, food stylists, recipe and product developers, food photographers and producers and in a wide range of associated careers such as teaching and business development.
Student Lucia Gonzalez, 17, said:
“I chose to do the course as I saw it was a great opportunity to learn a range of new skills and techniques as my aspiration is to work in less developed countries as part of a team, improving nutrition and education around food.
“I’ve loved the hands-on approach, the encouragement to try new techniques, and the atmosphere of focus and fun in the kitchen. It's given me a new level of confidence, especially when it comes to preparing and presenting food well.
“My favourite part of the course has been learning to plate and balance flavours professionally, preparing dishes such as Butternut Risotto with Parmesan Crisps and Orange & Ginger Tiramisu.
“The support and encouragement from Jamie and Ross has made a real impact on all of us and inspired me to keep experimenting and creating new dishes beyond the course.”
Maria Dunbar, CEO of Leiths Education and a former food education teacher, added:
“More than ever, young people need to feel confident in their ability to cook a nourishing and satisfying meal from scratch. Whether they have plans to pursue a culinary-related career, or just want to provide wonderful meals for family and friends, it begins with confidence.
“Mixing flavours, experimenting with new ingredients, and tasting cuisines from around the world, gives young people an exciting introduction to cookery and skills which will last a lifetime.
“We’re excited about the work Gordonstoun is doing in cookery and look forward to continuing working with them in the new school year and beyond.”
At Gordonstoun, we are lucky to have an award winning catering team with collaborative and imaginative menus every day.
To find out more about the uniquely broad range of opportunities available to our students, our community and our setting, join us on our next Virtual Taste of Gordonstoun Webinar.
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