Not where the craft lives — where the ticket is earned: the MCA's Assessment in Marine Cookery, one of four things it wants before it issues the Ship's Cook Certificate of Competency, and it only counts at a centre the MCA has approved.
Where the ticket is earned: the MCA's Assessment in Marine Cookery, at a centre the MCA has approved.
Verified schoolsGold credentialTaught in EnglishThree days: a written theory examination and two practical cookery assessments. The certificate itself comes from the MCA, not from Leiths — form MSF 4395. Open to over-18s with competent spoken and written English and numeracy and a professional-kitchen track record, which Leiths asks to see before you book — so it is closed to a career-changer with no kitchen behind them. The other approved centres on the last list we found (summer 2023) are in Glasgow, Stranraer and Westhill, Aberdeenshire — confirm a centre's current approval with the MCA at mlc@mcga.gov.uk before you pay anyone. Checked on leiths.com, 7 October 2026.
Facts read on the school's own pages, 7 Oct 2026.
Ship's Cook Certificate of Competency (UK MCA) — the document no flag will argue with · Certifying body: Maritime and Coastguard Agency (UK) — elsewhere, your vessel's flag
There is a real difference between a school that teaches you and a good-looking website, and too much of the internet is the second kind. Four instruments do the work, and every one of them is visible on the page you are already on.
If a place dodges these, that's your answer. It costs you nothing to ask, and it tells you everything.
This is the short version. The full method is here — the six questions, in order, for any craft anywhere.