Dinner Lady Jobs
Dinner lady jobs are school catering roles based in the kitchen and dining hall, covering food preparation, serving and clearing at lunchtime. Most schools now advertise them as catering assistant roles, and the job is open to anyone, though the older name is still what most people type into Google.
This guide covers what the work involves, the hours, how term-time pay works,s and what you need before you apply. If you have never worked in a kitchen, that is not a problem. Plenty of people doing the job started exactly there.
What does a dinner lady do?
Your shift starts mid-morning, usually between 10 and 11. The first hour is spent on preparation: portioning, setting up the servery, and checking the day’s allergen information against the menu.
Then service. A primary school might put 200 children through the hall in 45 minutes, and a large secondary school can double that across two sittings. You serve, keep portions consistent, handle the till or cashless system, and keep the queue moving without rushing a five-year-old who cannot decide between the pasta and the pie.
After the last sitting, you clear down, wash up and clean to the standard an environmental health officer would expect. Most people are finished by two.
The parts that never make it into the job advert: you learn which children have allergies, and you check every single time. You notice the one who has not eaten. You end up knowing 200 names.
Dinner lady, catering assistant or midday supervisor?
Three job titles overlap, and adverts use them loosely.
Job title | What does it usually mean |
|---|---|
Dinner lady | An informal, dated name for what is now called a catering assistant. Still the phrase most people search for. |
Catering assistant | Kitchen preparation, serving, tills, and cleaning down. The modern job title is the one you will see on most adverts. |
Midday or lunchtime supervisor | Looking after children in the hall and playground rather than working in the kitchen. Sometimes called a lunchtime assistant. |
The quickest way to tell them apart is to read where the person works. Kitchen and servery mean catering. Hall and playground mean supervision.
Employers differ too. Catering roles come from the school itself, an academy trust, a local authority catering service, or a contract caterer running the kitchen on the school’s behalf. Midday supervisor posts almost always come directly from the school, advertised on its own website or through the council, so an agency is rarely the route in. Worth knowing before you spend an afternoon applying in the wrong place.
Dinner lady pay and hours
Most of these jobs are part-time. A typical contract falls somewhere between 10 and 20 hours a week, built around a short daily shift in the middle of the day, term time only.
Term-time pay confuses almost everyone, so it is worth setting out. You are paid for the weeks you actually work, but employers usually spread that total across all twelve months. Your pay keeps arriving in August even though the kitchen is shut. Adverts sometimes quote the full-time equivalent salary rather than the pro-rata figure, so check which number you are looking at before comparing two roles.
Rates vary depending on where you are in the country, whether the kitchen is run in-house or by a contract caterer, how many hours you are contracted for and whether the role carries any supervisory duties. Pay is listed against each opening, so current catering vacancies will show you what employers near you are offering right now.
Do you need qualifications to become a dinner lady?
Not usually, to start. Most employers ask for a Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering, and plenty will put you through it once you are in post rather than expect it on day one. If you already hold it, say so in your application.
Every school catering role needs an enhanced DBS check because you work around children. Your employer applies for it, you fill in a form and show some ID, and it looks at your criminal record, including spent convictions. This is the step that stops people from applying, and for most, it turns out to be a fortnight of paperwork and nothing else.
You will also get allergen awareness training, which schools take seriously. Beyond that: enough numeracy for portions and a till, and the ability to work at pace alongside other people.
A long gap on your CV will not count against you. Schools and caterers hire parents returning to work all the time.
Which dinner lady jobs suit
The job fits around a school day because it is a school day. If your own children are in class between nine and three, your hours sit inside theirs and the holidays line up without you having to book time off.
It also works as a second job, or as something to do after retiring from full-time work when you want structure, company and a reason to be somewhere by half past ten.
Weigh up the harder parts too. You are on your feet for the whole shift, the hall is loud, and the busy hour is genuinely busy. It will not pay a full-time wage. What it gives you is a fixed rota, no evenings, no weekends, and a job you can leave behind at the door.
Where it can lead
Plenty of school kitchens are run by someone who started on the servery. The usual route runs catering assistant, then cook, then chef manager with a team, a budget, and the menus to plan. Each step asks for a higher qualification, most often Level 3 food safety for management, and most employers will fund it.
Schools also promote from within more readily than commercial kitchens do. Someone who already knows the site, the children, and the allergen list is worth holding on to.
If the longer career path interests you, our guide to school catering jobs covers the four main roles and what each one asks for.
How to find dinner lady jobs near you
Schools recruit in waves. The biggest comes in late summer, when kitchens staff up before September. The start of the spring and summer terms brings smaller rounds, plus whatever cover comes up mid-year.
You have two routes in. Apply directly, which means working through individual school websites, academy trust careers pages, and your council’s job board one at a time. Or register with an agency that already works with the schools and caterers in your area and let them match you.
If there is no catering on your CV, lead with anything that involves serving customers at pace, handling money, working to a clock or looking after children. A retail supervisor, a care worker and a parent who volunteers at breakfast club all have more relevant experience than they give themselves credit for.
How Pineapple Recruitment can help
We place people permanently rather than filling day-to-day gaps, so we only put you forward for roles worth committing to. We recruit across catering and hospitality recruitment and education recruitment, which means we know the schools, the caterers, and what each of them looks for.
Once an interview is booked, your consultant briefs you on the school, the people you will meet, and the questions likely to come up. Your CV goes nowhere without your say-so, so if you are working now, nobody finds out you are looking.
To get started, register your CV and a consultant will be in touch. If you are hiring school catering staff, talk to us instead.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need qualifications to be a dinner lady?
Not usually. Most employers ask for a Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering, but will train you after you start. You will need an enhanced DBS check, which your employer arranges, plus allergen awareness training. Kitchen experience helps your application but rarely appears as a strict requirement.
Do dinner ladies get paid during the school holidays?
Usually, yes. Term-time-only contracts pay you for the weeks you work, but employers normally spread that across twelve months, so your pay keeps arriving in August. Check how an advert quotes its salary, because the headline figure is sometimes the full-time equivalent rather than the pro-rata amount.
What hours does a dinner lady work?
A short shift in the middle of the day, term time only. Most start between 10 and 11 am and finish by early afternoon, with contracts typically ranging from 10 to 20 hours a week. You will not work evenings, weekends or school holidays.
What is the difference between a dinner lady and a midday supervisor?
A dinner lady, properly a catering assistant, works in the kitchen and prepares and serves food. A midday supervisor looks after children in the hall and playground and does not work in the kitchen. Schools usually recruit midday supervisors directly rather than through a catering agency.
Can men apply for dinner lady jobs?
Yes. The name is a leftover from a time when women did the job, and the role is open to anyone. Most schools and caterers now advertise it as a catering assistant or catering support. Nothing about the application or the work itself differs by gender.