I was lucky enough to get a placement at Speights Ale House and will be there every Wednesday until the end of term 3

My thoughts before starting Gateway this year was that I wanted to be a preschool teacher but I changed my mind to working as a chef. The reason for this is after researching how to get into the early childhood career I learned that there can be quite a lot of study involved after high school and I don't want to study for 3 years after finishing high school. I would rather be hands on in the kitchen. So after deciding to pursue a career as a chef I went on a taster day at Benny’s Again at the start of term 2 and a taster day at Speights Ale House a few weeks later. 

The tasks I have been doing at my placement are washing dishes, helping with the prep work (slicing, cubing etc) and I have recently been able to help plate up some of the food which is exciting. Through Gateway I have completed my Health and Safety certificate and my First Aid certificate and I am able to put them on my CV for future jobs. I will also be starting some assessments through Service IQ. The practical cookery assessments are assessed by providing evidence of my cookery skills, I keep a workplace log a bit like a diary and take photo's of the food I prepare, the head chef verifies my work. My plans for next year is to get a full time job and if that doesn't happen I will go to Ara to do the cookery course.