18-Month Full-Time Diploma – Grande Diploma

Prue Leith Grande Diploma: A South African Culinary Cornerstone

You’re creative and have a passion for food; your mind is made up. You’ve decided that your career lies in the world of culinary arts, as a professional chef, understanding that you require formal training and a recognised qualification to achieve your goal. Prue Leith Chefs Academy is regarded as the best school of its kind in South Africa, according to our industry peers in the hospitality industry, many of whom insist on employing only Prue Leith graduates when filling vacancies in their kitchens. It follows that enrolling at Prue’s is the best (if not only) step to obtain your highly regarded professional chef’s diploma.

Grande Diploma in Culinary Arts & Wine

At Prue Leith, our Grande Diploma in Culinary Arts & Wine has long since been the cornerstone of our curricula and training. This comprehensive course spans 18 months of full-time study, providing an excellent balance between theoretical and practical aspects of modern, innovative food preparation, based on classic French cuisine’s methods and techniques.

Diploma – Qualifications and Accreditation

Because of the wide range of subjects covered, which students are required to master during 18 months of intensive full-time study, the Prue Leith Grande Diploma is multi-faceted:

• Prue Leith Grande Diploma in Culinary Arts & Wine.
• City & Guilds: Level 1 IVQ Certificate in Food Preparation & Cooking (8065-01).
• Level 2 IVQ Diploma in Food Preparation & Culinary Arts (8065-02).
• Level 1 First Aid certificate and Fire & Safety Awareness certificate – essential knowledge in any kitchen.
• WSET Level 1 & 2 Wine & Spirit courses – important elements in cooking and in dining.

These qualifications are both nationally and internationally recognised, enabling Prue Leith graduates to work and travel wherever they choose or career opportunities present themselves – a veritable passport to the wide, wonderful world of cuisine.

Grande Status

Although “Grande” is in one way indicative of the status of our Grande Diploma 18-month course, it’s not pretentious, since the word’s implications are wider and more comprehensive:

• “Grande” is a French word with numerous meanings, depending on the context in which it’s used.
• Large/larger – it’s a serious, meaningful qualification, recognised by the culinary world at large and containing many diverse subjects within the curriculum.
• The French spelling of “Grande” in “Grande Diploma” is retained, because this is indicative and evocative of the basis of our culinary training at Prue Leith – the classic French tradition

Classic French Tradition

Georges Auguste Escoffier is credited with a host of achievements and accolades in the culinary world. Traditional French cuisine incorporated extensive use of sauces and tended to be complex as well as varied, due to strong regional influences. Escoffier modernised traditional methods and introduced structure to fine dining. He also established the five principal stations – parties or brigades – in the kitchen, a practice which is maintained in all professional kitchens, including those at Prue Leith, to this day.

Grande Diploma Enrolment

Our enrolment criteria at Prue Leith are simple and straightforward: A Grade 12 certificate, a great passion for food preparation, and the determination to succeed and work hard during 18 months’ full-time training. Grande Diploma courses commence each January and July.