St Swithun’s Chef Awarded Junior Chef of the Year | News | St Swithun’s Girls Private School, Winchester

St Swithun’s Chef Awarded Junior Chef of the Year

Josh Seawell, a chef at St Swithun’s school has been awarded Junior Chef of the Year at the annual Thomas Franks People Awards held at Wycombe Abbey.
Josh, who has been part of the St Swithun’s catering team for over three years, stood out among strong competition, securing first place in the Junior Chef category against three other finalists from a pool of more than 400 nominations.

Josh began his career in catering while working at a hotel conference centre, where he gained his professional qualifications. Since then, his experience has spanned a wide range of settings, including hotels, pubs, a Neapolitan pizza company, and a small catering business.

He is particularly passionate about the craft of bread-making. Josh explained:
“Pierre Koffmann said, ‘a good meal always starts with good bread’ and I like this because it highlights the importance of well-made bread, which I have a passion for. For me, it also implies that to produce a great meal, all the components must have equal importance. You should put as much effort into making the bread that goes down at the table as cooking the following courses. Food inspires me to be a chef, as I love food, both producing and eating!”

St Swithun’s, an all-girls independent school on the outskirts of Winchester, began their catering partnership with Thomas Franks in January 2025. Their approach to food is completely bespoke and the menus focus on eating a balanced diet to provide sustained energy for the students involved in a busy day, as well as ensuring optimum growth and development.

The skilled chefs at St Swithun’s leverage locally sourced, fresh ingredients to cook exceptional meals for students aged 3-18 and staff members. 

Emma Marlin, General Manager for Thomas Franks at St Swithun’s School said: “Josh is an amazing asset to the team, and we are very proud of his achievements at the school and to win the Junior Chef of the Year! He has grown and developed so much here and is a great team leader in the St Swithun’s kitchen. We are lucky to have him - a big thank you to Josh for all his hard work in making the girls food experience such a good one!”