KS3 Cookery and Nutrition offers students the opportunity to prepare and cook a variety of dishes ranging from baked goods to nutritious and affordable meals. The dishes made across KS3 are predominately savoury to encourage healthy eating and an awareness of nutrition.
Learners will be exposed to a range of skills to instil a love of cooking, improve their own skills set, prepare them to cook independently, and open opportunities to future careers.
It is important for learners to learn the basics of cooking, as this provides them with increased confidence and a sense of independence that will stay with them for life.
Pupils will learn how to use a range of equipment effectively, test food for readiness, and apply personal hygiene and food safety properly. Learners will study nutrition and healthy eating, where food comes from, how to maintain a healthy and balanced diet through good nutrition, how to plan and prepare nutritious meals, and discover the working characteristics of ingredients through scientific food investigations. Learners will explore the sensory characteristics of food through analytical and evaluative work.
This is an exciting and practical curriculum area that is supported through theoretical work. Practical work will be assessed via teacher feedback and self-assessment. Learners will be assessed via a design and make assignment at the end of each Food rotation. The design and make assignments will promote challenge, creativity, food styling and give learners the opportunity to show-off their technical skills.
Y7: Personal Hygiene, Food Safety and Healthy Eating
Learners will be introduced to Cookery and Nutrition and will learn about personal hygiene and food safety, key food temperatures (including the danger zone); healthy eating and the Eatwell Guide, sensory analysis; where food comes and whether eating insects can save the world.
They will also learn how to prepare and make a variety of food products such as scones, home-made butter, fruit salad, seasonal cous cous salad, chicken/haloumi goujons, muffins, vegetable soup, pasta bake, and bolognese sauce.
The rotation also consists of a practical food investigation and a design and make activity.
Food Science Investigation: Learners will investigate emulsification through the production of home-made butter.
Design and Make Activity: Learners will design and make a nutritious, healthy packed lunch that is suitable for a child 11-14 years of age. Some seasonal ingredients and local produce can be used.
Y8: Baking and Nutrition
Learners will build on the skills taught in Y7 to develop their practical skills and understanding of nutrition. They will learn about macronutrients and micronutrients; the implications of a diet high in fat and/or sugar, fats and oils (the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat); how to establish good eating habits, Reference Intakes (RIs), and how to interpret RIs on food labels to make informed decisions about foods.
Pupils will touch on how to apply costing and nutrition to plan affordable and nutritious meals, develop their practical skills and produce baked goods acquiring an understanding of the food science used in bread making and cakes.
The food products made in Y8 are smarties cookies, bread rolls, pizza, Swiss roll, vegetable stir-fry, paella, and chilli con carne. Knife skills will be developed by practising different types of Vegetable Cuts (e.g., julienne, brunoise).
The rotation also consists of a practical food investigation and a design and make activity.
Food Investigation: In groups, learners will investigate the functions of ingredients used in a basic sponge cake recipe. They will produce a control recipe and four variables; each variable will miss out a key ingredient. By comparing each variable against the control, learners can work out the function/s of each ingredient.
Design and Make Activity: Learners will Design and make a nutritious canteen meal on a budget. One portion of the meal should cost no more than £2.00 to make.
Y9 Multicultural Food
Pupils will expand their repertoire of recipes by producing dishes with a multicultural theme that have more skill and challenge.
Learners will study the different factors that affect people’s food choices such as allergies and intolerances. They will also learn how an unhealthy diet can lead to obesity and cardiovascular disease.
A variety of multicultural food products will be made in Y9 such as cheesecake, Danish pastries, chickpea curry, risotto, beef or mushroom stroganoff, meatballs in tomato sauce and Puerto Rican casserole. Knife skills will be extended by practising how to make complex garnishes such as a strawberry fan, strawberry rose and an apple swan.
The rotation also consists of a practical food investigation and a design and make activity.
Food Science Investigation: In groups, learners will investigate the best starch-based thickening agent to use in a roux-based sauce.
Design and Make Activity:
Learners will design and make a nutritious multicultural dish for a festival that must cater for a specific dietary need such as vegan, gluten-free, or lactose-free diet.
Key Stage 4 –WJEC GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition
Introduction:
The EDUQAS GCSE in Food Preparation and Nutrition equips learners with the
knowledge, understanding and skills required to cook and apply the principles of Food
Science, Nutrition and Healthy Eating. It encourages learners to cook, enables them to
make informed decisions about food and nutrition and allows them to acquire
knowledge in order to be able to feed themselves and others affordably and
nutritiously, now and later in life.
The practical lessons are varied to teach new skills, develop a technique, carry out a food investigation or make a complete dish. Food investigations allow learners to understand the functional properties and working characteristics of ingredients. Lessons that focus on learning new skills and developing techniques equips pupils with higher level technical skills which can increase their marks when applied in the three-hour practical Food exam in Y11.
Y10
Learners will explore the principles of food preparation and nutrition in the following areas:
Food commodities
Principles of nutrition
Diet and good health
The science of food
Where food comes from
Cooking and food preparation
These areas are not taught as stand-alone topics but have been carefully sequenced into planned Schemes of Learning.
Term 1: September-December
Practical lessons have been sequenced to support theory work.
Learners will learn about Food Science and will make a range of food products that will enable them to identify the scientific changes that have taken place during the preparation and cooking of food, and why. They will use the rubbing-in, melting, whisking, and creaming methods to make a range of baked baked goods, whilst learning about aeration, dextrinization, caramelisation and gelatinisation. Their skills will be utilised by conducting a food investigation to examine the best method to use to make a basic sponge cake mixture.
The sequence of learning devised for this year group has been created to plug gaps in skills, knowledge and understanding from KS3, caused by Covid disruption. Learners will utilise these skills by conducting a food investigation to examine the best method to use to make a basic sponge mixture.
After the half term holiday, learners will prepare and cook a range of chicken-based dishes by deboning and portioning a chicken from scratch. They will develop their knife skills and learn how to use all the parts of a chicken to avoid food waste and make a variety of nutritious meals. Dishes to make include chicken Kiev, stuffed chicken breast, lemon chicken wings with potato wedges and homemade mayonnaise (emulsification) risotto (using the chicken stock), and arancini. Theory work will explore Food Safety and Food poisoning to ensure that learners know how to store, prepare and cook meat and poultry safely.
Term 2: January-April
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Practical skills will progress to make higher level dishes such as panacotta with a coulis sauce, profiteroles (making the choux pastry from scratch) and homemade pasta and roux sauce. Learners will study the principles of nutrition, focussing on carbohydrates, fat, fibre, digestion and protein. They will also explore life stages and deficiencies; special diets and how cardiovascular disease can be caused by an unhealthy diet.
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Term 3: April-July
Learners will carry out three assessments in the summer term of Y10:
Mock NEA 1 Food Investigation Task
Mock NEA 2 Food Preparation Assessment Task
Mock Written Exam
The mock exams will assess subject knowledge and understanding in preparation for the NEAs in Y11.
They will also study global food production, looking at food miles, food waste, carbon footprint, food security, climate change and food poverty.
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Y11:
The following summative assessment will take place in Y11:
Non-examination Assessment 1: The Food Investigation Assessment
Non-examination Assessment 2: The Food Preparation Assessment
Written Examination: Principles of Food Preparation and Nutrition
Term 1:
September- October: NEA 1 Food Investigation
NEA 1 will be completed and submitted before the October half term holiday
October-December:
Practical lessons will prepare learners for the NEA 2 assessment by developing their technical skills.
Theory lessons will involve revision and exam techniques to prepare pupils for their mock exam in December, and written exam in the summer
December: There will be a written mock exam in GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition
Term 2:
January-April: NEA 2 The Food Preparation Assessment
January: Learners will select a task from the exam board to for the NEA 2. They will start the task with research.
4-6 cooking trials will be carried out as part of the research- three dishes must be selected from the cooking trials to make for the three-hour practical food exam, with reasons for choice given.
March: Three-hour practical Food Exam will be carried out at school and invigilated by the Food Teacher. The evaluation will be completed after the practical exam.
NEA 2 will be submitted before the Easter holiday.
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Term 3:
April-June: The lessons will be used for revision and addressing any gaps in knowledge in readiness for the written GCSE exam in June
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EDUQAS GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition
The following assessments will be carried out in Y11:
A scientific food investigation which will assess the learner’s knowledge, skills and understanding in relation to scientific principles underlying the preparation and cooking of food.
The NEA 1 will be conducted during the Autumn term.
Prepare, cook and present a menu which assesses the learner’s knowledge, skills and understanding in relation to the planning, preparation, cooking and presentation of food.
The NEA 2 will be conducted during the Spring term.
Written Examination: Principles of Food Preparation and Nutrition (1 hour 45 minutes)
50% of qualification
This component will consist of two sections both containing compulsory questions and will assess the six areas of content as listed in the specified GCSE content:
Section A: questions based on stimulus material.
Section B: structured, short and extended response questions to assess content related to food preparation and nutrition.
The written examination will take place during the summer term.
Extra Curricular Opportunities
Year 11 – Monday P7 Intervention: Invitation only
There is a wide range of revision materials available on ‘Show My Homework’ including a digital copy of the illuminate text book; and a class code to access SENECA.
Subject Overview
Subject Overview