Advanced Butcher
Level 3 Apprenticeship
An Advanced Butcher Apprenticeship at Plumpton College will equip the apprentice with the skills to progress a butchery career towards supervisory and management positions, within a growing meat industry that needs trained, qualified supervisors and managers.
Butchers progressing to advanced roles in manufacturing companies will often diversify into production management including roles with responsibility for people and/or functions such as sales, quality control or training others.
Equally, butchers advancing their careers in a large supermarket, independent retail or farm shop will be excellent communicators and possess a technical knowledge of meat products that are often supplemented with more generic skills in merchandising, sales, quality and people supervision
It is important for existing competent and reliable staff in a business, to be offered a career path to acquire and develop new skills and responsibilities. This is a cost effective and efficient solution for businesses to recruit and retain staff.
An Advance Butcher Apprentice at Plumpton will acquire the skills, knowledge and behaviours to practice butchery management at the highest level and there are different career paths available based on the job role;
- Retail,
- Instore or
- Processing Butchery.
On successful completion apprentices will automatically be eligible for full membership of the Institute of Meat (IoM).
What apprentices will learn
- Precision meat cutting and presentation for commercial and domestic customers
- Health and safety practices, and food safety and hygiene systems to management level
- The principles and science of meat
- Knowledge of meat and poultry, its selection and provenance
- Processing techniques
- Artisan practices and preparation of wet and dry meat, including curing, smoking and making pies and sausages
- Business profitability and how to maximise productivity, efficiency and customer care
- Merchandising and labelling
- Staff recruitment, mentoring and staff appraisals
- Specialist skills: retail shop, processing plant or in-store supermarket butchery
Qualifications Awarded
- Apprenticeship Certificate
- Level 3 award in food safety supervision for manufacturing
- Level 3 award in hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) for food manufacturing
- Level 3 award in health and safety in the food supply chain business
- Level 2 in math and/or English Functional Skills (if applicable)
Apprentices without level 2 English and mathematics will need to achieve this level prior to taking the end point assessment.
Delivery model
A blended learning experience with attendance at our butchery training centre located next to our college farm, Lambert Farm on our main campus approximately every fortnight (during term time only), live online theoretical teaching learning and quarterly workplace competency and efficiency observation and assessments.
Course details
| Dates & Location | Next cohort enrolment is March 2024 with commencement of in college delivery April 2024. |
|---|---|
| Duration | Typically 18 months (some apprentices could complete sooner depending on their previous experience and qualifications, their perfomance during the apprenticeship and the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge in the workplace) practical period with 3-month End Point Assessment window. |
| Costs | Costs to the employer will be dependent on several factors such as age of apprentice and size (number of employees) of the business. Please contact our Business Services team on 01273 892127 for more information. |
Entry Requirements
- Maths and English assessment
- Existing skills, knowledge and behaviour assessment
- Level 2 Butchery qualification or extensive previous industry experience.
To enrol onto an apprenticeship programme you need to be employed with a contract of employment. If you have an employer lined up or are already employed please contact our Business Services team on 01273 892127 or via email.
You must be in a role that will allow you the opportunity to develop the necessary skills, knowledge and behaviours of the apprenticeship. Additionally, you must have a working level of maths and English that will allow successful achievement of level 2 functional skill prior to the end point assessment.
If you do not currently have an employer please visit the main Apprenticeships page for guidance on how to find and apply for an apprenticeship opportunity or register for our Talent Bank service.
If you are an employer and would like to recruit or enrol an existing employee onto an apprenticeship please contact our Business Services team on 01273 892127 or via email.
A Plumpton Butchery School Advanced Apprentice will learn in small groups in modern facilities equipped with very best industry standard equipment.
The apprenticeship delivery team has over 50 years' experience leading retail, wholesale and food training delivery businesses and are passionate about providing the best possible managers for the future needs of the meat, food and associated sectors.
Facilities
Butchery apprentices will training in one the best butchery training facilities in the country.
Our purposed built butchery training centre, officially opened in 2023 is located at the college's Lambert Farm situated at the main campus. Able to accomodate up to 16 butchery apprentices each at their own butcher block, the centre, has all the equipment required for professional butchery, a processing facility and cold storage in addition to using overhead cameras and screens that allows the butchery training team to deliver more detailed training on specific cutting methods. The facility includes equipment and space to provide apprentices with training around customer service, visual merchandising and packaging.
Future Opportunities
On successful completion, apprentices will be entitled to automatic registration to full membership of the Institute of Meat.
Future opportunities for apprentices who complete the Advanced Butcher level 3 are limitless, whether starting their own business, taking on more responsibility including managerial at work, progressing further with their skills and knowledge development and working towards becoming an Institute of Meat recognised Master Butcher.
