The National Bakery School (NBS), situated at London South Bank University, is seeking support from businesses to help it secure funding for ‘bakery bootcamps’.
The proposed bootcamps will see unemployed individuals or those in unskilled jobs undertake a 10-week bakery and patisserie programme described as a ‘practical, hands-on course with elements of theory and science plus wrap-around support’. It will include the core techniques required by industry, as well as a food hygiene certificate.
The course overlaps with NBS’ existing City and Guilds Level 2 course in patisserie and confectionery but will be reduced to 60 hours rather than an academic year. Techniques taught will include fermented and non-fermented bread, simple loaves and baguettes, pre-fermentation, enriched dough, croissants, Danish pastries, lamination, brioche, meringues, custard, shortbread, nutrients, fibre, labelling, salt awareness, and costing.
“The aim is to support unemployed people into good work more quickly than the current courses,” Cristiana Solinas, head of The National Bakery School told British Baker. “This will give students everything they need to enter the industry in restaurants and artisan or commercial bakeries.”
However, in order to get the course off the ground the school needs to secure funding from the Greater London Authority (GLA). As part of this, it requires written commitments from bakeries and bakery companies to guarantee interviews for candidates who complete the courses.
“We need bakeries to sign a document stating that they will commit to giving these individuals an interview. Not a job, but an interview,” Solinas added. “It’s a win–win situation: bakeries get fresh and well-trained talent, and our applicants get a fair shot at finding a job. The more bakeries we can get on board, the stronger our position will be for the next round of the grant application.”
Bakeries willing to show support can do so via this link. All documentation needs to be collected by the end of August with NBS submitting the application shortly after that.
In addition, NBS intends to launch Level 2 and Level 3 bakery apprenticeships from January 2026. In preparation for this, it is hosting an Employer Open Day on 23 September 2025 where it will present the apprenticeships, proposed bootcamp programme, and showcase their facilities to potential employers.
“These efforts are part of NBS’s commitment to addressing the skills gap in the baking sector and promoting workforce development through structured apprenticeship and bootcamp pathways,” Solinas added.
It comes a few months after the school opened a new state-of-the-art teaching bakery which was designed to help expand its offer to the local community. The project was supported by the GLA and South Bank Colleges (SBC). Last year SBC and NBS merged in a move described as a ‘natural and strategic progression’ which leverages shared values, resources, and long-standing collaboration to create an ‘even more robust’ educational offering.
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