Lakefield as we know it now started in 1966 when Netherhall House and Lakefield Catering School were built. Prior to that Netherhall was a small student residence that received hospitality services from trainees based at The Cottage. The complex was opened by the Queen Mother in November 1966. At that time the students gained their qualification from the Welsh Matriculation Board. However, by 1994 the NVQ system had been introduced into the UK and Lakefield received City & Guilds approval to run Hospitality and Catering courses. At the same time the Netherhall/Lakefield complex was refurbished providing better facilities and a wider range of services including a conference area. These new buildings were opened in 1995 by the Duchess of Kent.
Situated as it is in a leafy North London suburb, and now with a history of more than forty years of hospitality training, Lakefield Training Centre has developed an exceptional formula for successfully preparing motivated, highly skilled individuals. Training is imparted within the context of the adjacent Netherhall House with its hall of residence and conference facilities. Throughout Lakefield's training programme, immense importance is given to genuine competence-based learning, underpinned by solid theoretical knowledge.
The hospitality industry embraces food and beverages, front office operations, housekeeping, food-service management and support functions such as sales, personnel, computing and event-planning. Outlets are very diverse and include hotels, fine dining, restaurant chains, clubs, bars and pubs, cafes, company staff restaurants, entertainment centres and universities. There are many opportunities in this rapidly growing industry. Currently over 85% of the hospitality workforce hold relevant qualifications and the industry employs (along with travel and tourism) 10% of the UK workforce. The hospitality industry offers an excellent career path and opportunities to travel the world.
Lakefield offers its own Hospitality Diploma to school-leavers comprising three City & Guilds Level 2 Hospitality National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs), with several subsequent options at Levels 3 and 4 as well as a range of associated qualifications in the key skills of food hygiene, health and safety, nutrition, and wines and spirits, plus a vocational language. Lakefield has excellent links with industry, and is able to send trainees on industrial placements to some of the best London hospitality locations as well as overseas in Paris, Rome, Madrid, Stockholm and Oporto.
In 2004 two of our trainees won a Silver Medal in the Junior Pastry Chef competition in the Food and Drink Exhibition at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre. Another of our trainees won the Compass Junior Chef of the Year competition in October 2005, where she was also a runner up in the New Zealand Link competition. In the same month, City & Guilds and the Savoy Educational Trust awarded our Training Manager a Gold Medal of Excellence in Training and Lecturing for Hospitality Lecturer.
Over its history Lakefield has built up links with significant organisations within the hospitality industry. They appreciate the training and personal development imparted there. As one example, Anton Edelmann, Principal Chef of the Directors Table said, 'I am delighted to support Lakefield, the develop-ment programme of its students and its aim of promoting hospitality as a worthwhile career. Our partnership has enabled the students to have a taste of contract catering, encouraging them to become future recruits'.
Throughout forty years of hospitality training, Lakefield has developed an exceptional formula for preparing motivated, highly skilled individuals, able to enter full-time employment immediately once qualified. Lakefield is interested in the whole person, developing not only professional but also personal and social skills. The training provides the transferable skills, such as teamwork, IT, time-management, etc., required today in every workplace. Added to this, the skills developed in the hospitality industry are equally transferable to the family and home, so that the active, people-centred young persons who choose one of Lakefield's courses are prepared for everything that life holds in store.