Food Technology

Curriculum Intent

As part of their work with food, students will be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Instilling a love of cooking will open the door to one of the most important expressions of human creativity. Learning how to cook safely will enable students to feed themselves and others affordably and well now and later in life.

As pupils move through K.S.3 and into K.S.4 if they opt for this subject the complexity of skills and technical processes develop and progress allows pupils not only to show higher level skills but also to develop a greater understanding of the scientific principles behind why and how ingredients work.

Basic cooking skills are covered in the year 7 curriculum and support is available both personally in lessons and with staged sample learning mats, recipes in remote learning and pre recorded videos to recap or reinforce learning. All key stage 4 pupils have access to an on-line digital text book which can be accessed both at home and in school.

The curriculum from KS3 through to KS4 is designed so that key concepts and topics are mapped through schemes of learning from Year 7 through to Year 11 for example, foundation skills are taught in Year 7, this includes weighing and measuring, safe use of the oven and knives. In year 8 and 9, these core skills are built upon with tasks of increasing challenge and additional concepts are introduced such as healthy eating. In Year 10 and 11, students should be able to apply these concepts in a practical way in their NEA work. Our curriculum provides our students with real life, practical skills that they will benefit from as they progress through school and beyond.

The topics that we have chosen for our KS3 curriculum are a mix of theoretical and practical units. Our KS3 curriculum successfully builds the skills and knowledge required in preparation for KS4. Sequencing of topics increases in difficulty as the year progresses in order to build fundamental practical skills. Basic food science is introduced with an investigation in year 7 and built upon with science in years 8 and 9. Basic nutrition is built upon from year 8 to more specific nutritional needs of teenagers in year 9 and beyond in K.S.4.

As pupils develop both their range of skills and knowledge of how and why ingredients work, they will be more confident working independently and with precision in practical lessons. Most able students are encouraged to demonstrate higher level technical skills whilst lower ability learners will be supported in lessons both physically by support staff and myself and by e.g. stages/visual practical aids.

Each year we run a variety of extra-curricular activities and events such as: Macmillan bake off in aid of cancer research, practical skills for Duke of Edinburgh for year 10, work with the modern languages department to celebrate foods from other countries and have worked with James Holden from the Institute of culinary arts for competitions and master class skill sessions with year 10.

Curriculum Journey