Food, Nutrition & Catering
Head of Faculty: Mr Gerard McMahon
Food, Nutrition & Catering curriculum intent
In design and technology students combine practical and technological skills with creative thinking to design and make a range of products from a variety of materials. Our student curriculum is highly aspirational: we instil life skills in students which are vital for their success both in life and work. This is complemented by extensive links to careers in an ever-changing world where technological advancements are likely to play a huge role. We support the building of strong subject knowledge with inter-disciplinary links to enable students to research, design, make, evaluate and constantly improve. Students are encouraged to think creatively, solve problems and work productively, both in teams and independently. Through this programme of study, project management skills, portfolio skills and independent learning skills are honed. We are supporting the development of future designers, engineers and entrepreneurs through a curriculum which seeks to engage and inspire. We aim to nurture resourceful, innovative, enterprising, capable citizens of the future, whose knowledge includes an understanding of nutrition and healthy choices, an appreciation for the needs and wants of different cultures and demographics, and careful consideration of sustainability, including aspects such as food miles and product/material types.
What does the Key Stage 3 curriculum look like?
We start our Key Stage 3 journey in Year 7 by learning about food safety principles as this underpins every practical lesson throughout students’ forthcoming food education. We embed aspects of GCSE level content through the KS3 curriculum to ensure that the imperative understanding becomes second nature. Key processes in the food industry are studied to enable students to create a range of food products, this is supported by understanding where the food we eat comes from and how we can be more sustainable when growing and buying food ingredients. By looking at the function and sources of key nutritional ingredients, in particular micro and macronutrients, students gain a baseline understanding which we then build upon.
When students reach Year 8 they start to look at the world around us and understand how culture and religion can affect food choices, both on a British and global scale. They look at food hygiene and safety principles and begin to look in detail at the sources and structure of carbohydrates, fats and proteins in order to understand why macronutrients need to make up a greater proportion of the diet. In sequencing the lessons this way, students firstly understand where to find a macronutrient and then can begin to look at how to apply this knowledge to the foods that they plan to create.
During Year 9 we look forward to more of the Key Stage 4 curriculum beginning to drip feed GCSE content through our lesson. Understanding and identifying the structure of the back of house and the roles of waiting staff in the front of house in catering is important, as well as key culinary terms and techniques. We include presentation of dishes and have an introduction to careers and educational pathways in the hospitality and catering industry, and we cover the 3 R’s - reduce, reuse, recycle to incorporate environmental issues before moving into the Key Stage 4 options process and focusing more on the hospitality and catering sector as a whole. As well as this, we develop students’ understanding of food science principles in order to extend their learning and engage them ready for our Food Preparation and Nutrition course at GCSE.
What does the Key Stage 4 curriculum look like?
During the final two years of their food journey, we offer a combination of Hospitality and Catering and Food Preparation and Nutrition courses which means that half of our cohort will be focused on food preparation skills, nutrition and health, food science, food choices and food provenance as well as preparation and cooking techniques. Our Hospitality and Catering students will focus heavily on the wider hospitality industry looking at the environment in which hospitality and catering providers operate, how these provisions meet current health and safety guidance and putting into practice all of the skills they have previously built up, in order to create menus and dishes of their own choice and research.
This helps lead to a well-rounded student, who is not only competent with an abundance of extremely important life skills, but also ready for their potential next steps in the industry through further education or within the world of work.
How can you support learning at home?
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Help with meal preparation and clean up
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Practise as many basic cooking skills as possible
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Help with menu planning for the week at home
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Help with weighing and measuring of ingredients for recipes/meals.
Food Preparation and Nutrition Key Stage 4 Revision Resources
