Overview
Ready to unlock your culinary ambitions?
The Leiths Two Term Diploma is our 6 month full-time chef qualification designed for those with a driving ambition to build a career in food. Our Two Term qualification retains all the advanced professional technique, learnings and prestige of our Three Term Diploma without the initial Foundation term, suited to those with an existing skillset in cookery and culinary theory. Taught by some of the world’s most skilled and experienced teachers, guest chefs, and industry leaders, our training is grounded in fundamental culinary techniques and theory as well as covering progressive industry trends, world cuisines, practical menu and service planning and budgeting. Successful students also have the option to gain the CTH Level 4 Diploma in Professional Culinary Arts.
Recognised across the food and hospitality industry as a mark of excellence, the Leiths Diploma equips graduates with a complete skills training, practical knowledge and career support to help them pursue whatever they aspire. Many of our Two Term graduates make up the industry leaders and trailblazers of the food world today. Students enrolling for the Two Term Diploma begin with an induction week where you will go about revising a number of key skills to ensure you are prepared to begin the course.
Overview
Course Structure
This 6 month course runs annually from January to the start of July, five days a week from 9am-5pm.
The course is broken down into 2 terms that progress in complexity. The Intermediate Term runs January to April and Advanced Term runs April to the start of July.
The full Diploma cohort is divided into six classes with around 16 students in each.
Each day is broken down into a morning and afternoon session. During these sessions, your learning will be divided between practical cooking and teacher demonstrations, led by our expert senior tutors and a host of guest demonstrators. These include leading figures of the hospitality and food world, featuring head chefs from acclaimed restaurants, caterers, food scientists and other culinary experts.
Dates
Skills Week – Monday 6th January 2025 – Friday 10th January 2025
Intermediate Term – Tuesday 14th January 2025 – Friday 28th March 2025
Advanced Term – Wednesday 23rd April 2025 – Friday 4th July 2025
Teaching
Our Diploma teaching team are some of the most highly skilled chefs in the UK. Most having completed the Diploma themselves, there is a minimum requirement of 2 years work in hospitality and industry before teaching at Leiths, to ensure all our teachers provide nuanced and informed culinary expertise to all students.
Each class within the cohort will be provided with a dedicated class tutor to support them throughout their Diploma course, providing bespoke feedback and termly performance reviews.
Leiths prides itself in providing a tailored and comprehensive learning experience to all its Diploma students, emphasised by its excellent student to teacher ratio.
As well as teaching from our expert in-house team, you will also experience guest chef demonstrations by some of the food industry’s most notable individuals. Past and recurring guest demonstrators have included Yotam Ottolenghi, Jeremy Lee, Olia Hercules, Florence Knight, Atul Kochhar, Ben Tish, Fallow, Spring, Osip, Kricket and Forza Win.
Assessment & Coursework
You will be continually assessed during the practical sessions. A theory and practical examination and completion of the coursework will form part of the graduation assessment. Daily reviews with your class tutor will provide feedback and support, throughout the course.
Part of your study will be managed at home – about 4 to 5 hours a week. This will include writing time plans, menu planning and costing exercises. You will also present a final portfolio of recipes and menus to be assessed at the end of the academic year.
Skills Covered
Intermediate Term
- Refining of kitchen skills including seasoning, presentation and knife skills
- Technical butchery of meat and game
- Offal, game and meat cooking
- Fish and shellfish preparation and cooking including round fish, squid, octopus and clams
- Complex emulsion, reduction, velouté and Espagnole sauces
- Soufflés, sweet and savoury
- Enriched doughs, brioche, introduction to bigas
- French, layered, hot water crust and suet pastries
- Patisserie including gateaux, bavarois, ice creams, sorbets and Italian meringue
- Canapes
- Pasta and risotto
- Preserving jams, jellies, marmalade and chutney
- CTH – commencing Level 4
- Wine – WSET level 2
- Guest demonstrations include nutrition, dim sum and east Asian cookery, plant based food, healthy eating, Middle Eastern and Italian cooking
Advanced Term
- Clearing and consommés
- Advanced vegetable garnishes
- Refined sauces including Jus and bisque
- Puff pastry and laminated yeasted doughs, croissant and Danish pastries
- Sourdoughs and slow fermentation breads
- Mousselines
- Pasta
- Fish
- Terrines and pates
- Curing and smoking
- Sous vide and brining
- Shellfish including crab, lobster and scallops
- Entremets and petit gateaux
- Petit fours and macarons
- Advanced butchery and meat cooking
- Guest demonstrations including chocolate, plant based food, cheese, Michelin starred restaurant chefs, how to start a food business, gin tasting, food and wine matching
Example Recipes
Intermediate Term
- Pan fried mackerel, roasted baby beetroot, lovage, radish and pickled shallot salad
- Braised octopus, paprika sauce and aioli
- Salt and spiced slow roast pork belly with chilli and peanut dressing
- Wild Mallard, chicory, granola and juniper sauce
- Bone marrow, chilli ox cheek and parsley salad with beef dripping flatbreads
- Fried chicken, kimchi and fermented kohlrabi
- Doughnuts with fresh blackcurrant jam
- Seville orange soufflés
- Sacher torte and fraisier cakes
- Bay bavarois, roasted pink rhubarb and sable biscuits
- Ravioli of fontina and pumpkin, sage butter
Advanced Term
- Artichoke and green olive pithivier, heritage tomato salad
- Mushroom consommé with pickled mushrooms
- Crispy cod cheeks, soused vegetable salad and citrus mayonnaise
- Croissant, pain au chocolate, Danish pastries
- Country and wild garlic sourdoughs, ciabatta
- Gateaux opera
- King oyster mushroom, salt baked celeriac, hazelnut vinaigrette
- Pan fried cod, bouillabaisse sauce and baby fennel
- Braised violet artichokes, potato gnocchi and spring vegetables
- Brined quail with aubergine fries, sweetcorn puree and pomegranate jus
- Korean slow cooked short ribs with compressed pear
- scallop and prawn raviolo with crab bisque
- Cardamon and white chocolate millefeuille
- Turbot with a cucumber beurre blanc and sea herbs
- Bone marrow, chilli ox cheek and parsley salad
Typical Day
A typical day normally starts at 9am and finishes at 5pm with up to an hour for lunch. The day is divided between demonstrations and practical cooking sessions. You will also receive lectures and demonstrations from leading figures of the hospitality world and head chefs from acclaimed restaurants, as well as caterers, food scientists and other culinary experts.
Morning
Your weeks alternate so on one week, your day begins with a morning demonstration at 10.00am; arrive at 9.45am to be prepared for the start. The next week, your day will start with a practical cookery session; arrive by 9am to change into your chef’s whites and start organising ingredients.
Lunchtime
During your lunch break a student common room is available. You can also remain in the demonstration room, do some research in the library or sit in the local park. All the food you cook is yours, so if you have a morning cookery session your lunch can be what you’ve cooked.
Afternoon
If you have a practical session in the afternoon, allow time to change and get into the kitchens early to weigh up the ingredients. Classes usually end by 5pm but may finish later on occasions. If you are cooking in the afternoon, the food cooked can be taken home to enjoy for dinner.
Suitability
The Leiths Two Term Diploma is suitable for existing food professionals or those with accredited training in the foundations of cookery, who want to gain a comprehensive accredited training for a career in food.
Our teaching staff will determine whether your cooking ability is suited to the Two Term course during the one-to-one discussion process. To explore which course is right for you, book an introductory chat with our teaching staff here.
Qualifications
By completing this course, you will gain the following qualifications:
- Leiths Two Term Diploma in Food and Wine
- CTH Level 4 Diploma in Professional Culinary Arts
- Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 2 in Wines
- Assessment in Marine Cookery
- Level 2 Food Allergen Awareness
- Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering
- Level 2 Health and Safety in the Workplace
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health
- First Aid training
Booking and Interview
Book your one-to-one
Places on this course are offered following a 45-minute informal interview. This is a relaxed discussion between you and one of our friendly teaching staff where we can learn about your unique learning needs and discuss whether the course is right for you. Eligibility will be determined based upon cooking aptitude and suitability for the course. This is carried out via remote video call.
To request an informal interview, click ‘Book a Consultation’ at the top of the page or click here. Fill in the form with your details, selecting ‘Diploma interview’ from the options and submit. Our admin team will then be in touch to set up your interview.
Book an introductory chat
If you are unsure whether this course is right for you and you want to explore your options, we do offer the opportunity to book 15-minute introductory chat. This allows you to speak directly to our teaching team and ask any questions you may have about your opportunities. This is carried out remotely via video call. Please note: places on this course will only be awarded following the informal 45 minute interview.
To request a one-to-one introductory chat, fill in the form here with your details, selecting 15-minute chat from the options and we will get in touch to organise.
Secure your place
You will be contacted by email following your interview by our Principal or Headteacher to offer a place on the Diploma course. To secure your place, a deposit of £2,000 will need to be paid. This is usually done over the phone, organised and facilitated by our Registrar.
You will also need to fill out the enrolment form. This form will be sent over to you by email along with further information after booking by our Registrar. By signing this form, you agree to our course booking terms and conditions. To read our terms and conditions, click here.
Payments for professional courses must be made by either bank transfer, cheque or a debit/credit card payment. We do not accept American Express.
Remaining fees
Once the deposit is paid, all remaining professional course fees will be due six weeks before the course starts. We’ll send you an invoice, along with instructions for ordering equipment and uniform closer to the time.
For more information on finance and payment plans, please contact our Registrar at registrar@leiths.com or call directly at 020 8749 6400.
School Facilities
Leiths School of Food and Wine is located over 4 floors of a light and airy space on a residential street between Shepherd’s bush and Chiswick in West London.
The school comprises four kitchens, three of which are used for the full time students while the fourth is used for recipe development, corporate team building, one day workshops, photography and filming.
The kitchens are all air conditioned and equipped with gas ovens and hobs of the same design and high standard employed by most professional restaurants and catering kitchens, giving students access to all the equipment needed to learn to cook professionally.
The demonstration kitchen on the ground floor is fitted with LCD screens and cameras enabling students to see the close up details of each step of the dishes and techniques demonstrated by the teachers and outside lecturers.
Students have access to a library of cookery books and magazines for reference, a student dining room, changing facilities and Wi-Fi. There are computers at their disposal.
Career Opportunities
The past decade has seen a boom in the varied career opportunities available within food, from private cheffing and hospitality, to recipe developing, media and food start-ups and entrepreneurship. Whatever your aspirations, the Leiths’ professional courses equip you with the lifetime skills, resources, network and solutions needed to kickstart your career.
Leiths List
Our professional students all benefit from our bespoke careers and recruitment agency Leiths List, drawing on Leiths network of alumni and industry connections to provide work experience, job placements and advice from some of the UK’s leading food businesses. Students have access to this support from the point that they begin their course well into their professional careers.
Work Experience
As part of the course Leiths will also support you with access to bespoke training by top chefs, industry placements, career advice and an exclusive network of hospitality businesses partnering with us to offer Leiths students long term job opportunities.
Examples of business we partner with for work experience:
- BBC Good Food
- Soho House Group
- The Delaunay
- Spring
- Carousel
- Chez Bruce
- Elystan street
- The Stafford Group
- Norma
- Medlar
- The Glasshouse
- Saturday Kitchen Live
- Taste of London
- Delicious magazine
- Allplants
- Gousto
