Food & Nutrition Studies

Year 7

Autumn Term

In year 7 students will be introduced to the basis of safe cooking and use of a food room, safe preparation of food and healthy eating.

In the Autumn term, students learn about the importance of food safety in terms of the kitchen, cooking and food.  They will learn to recognise and use a variety of kitchen equipment and build upon their skills to cook a range of simple snacks and meals.   These will include weighing and measuring to make biscuits, knife skills and the rubbing in method to make an apple crumble, introducing a peeler and a blender to make soup.  Students will embed this throughout focusing their studies around the Eatwell Guide then making courgette and cheese muffins.  We want to add new flavours to give them variety but also introduce simple budgeting ideas they could make with leftovers at home.  We will then understand the importance of eating in the morning to break the fast and skills to accompany this of frying, grilling, boiling and scrambling.  We will finish the unit adapting a sweet recipe to make it healthier, reducing sugar and finding ways to add more fibre and fruit into a flapjack dish and showcasing the melting method.

Spring Term

In Year 7 students will be introduced to the basis of Processing and Production and where their food comes from.

Students will learn how wheat becomes bread, pasta and pastry, the decisions consumers make when choosing food and that they are varied and can include personal preference, availability and cost. Students will learn what provenance means and be reassured that it has been produced to high standards of hygiene and animal welfare.

They will learn to make simple bread rolls and a tuna and broccoli pasta bake (or similar) and embed practical skills of weighing and measuring but also learn to knead, make a sauce and boil pasta to make a simple balanced and low cost meal.  Students will then learn why it is important to evaluate the food they cook and start taste testing to understand why differences of opinion matter and why consumers make the choices they do. We will also touch upon quality assurance schemes and how they are used across food production to assess and highlight these standards.

Students will then make cheese and onion triangles and learn how to use pastry, understanding flour has yet another use and also learn about gluten intolerance and the alternatives available.

We will finish the unit at Easter, understanding the labelling of eggs and students will learn to make Easter bunny cupcakes (or alternatives) using the creaming method and how to ice and pipe simply.

Year 8

Autumn Term

In year 8 students will build upon their knowledge of the requirements of a balanced diet and its constituent parts. They should have acquired a number of skills which will allow them to understand, manipulate and combine ingredients together to create a number of different dishes based around one pot meals including chicken curry, vegetarian chilli, spaghetti carbonara, and pizza.

Students will have researched the needs of teenagers and be able to transfer their knowledge and understanding of appropriate ingredients in order to design and make a one pot meal that would appeal to the teenage market.

They will learn the skills of making sauces (all in one, roux and reducing methods) and the use of pasta, rice, and potato as staple foods.  Students will research factors affecting food choice and focus on costing and food poverty to showcase how they can produce healthy low cost nutritious meals.

Spring Term

In Year 8 students will further build upon their knowledge of the requirements of a balanced diet and its constituent parts by learning about Foods from around the World. They will start the term making a Cottage Pie and learning how to boil and mash potatoes and cook mince.  Students will then learn where in the world certain foods comes from and we will link with Geography for some cross-curricular making of Jollof or a savoury of their choice to experiment with seasoning and how to make delicious meals out of low cost ingredients.

Students will then try their hands at making pastry to fulfil their assessed practical of Portuguese Tarts and then make Kofta Kebabs where they will use the probe thermometers to ensure the meat is fully cooked as well as forming and shaping mince.

Students will complete the Spring term taste testing hot cross buns and learning how to perform sensory analysis and an end of term written test.

Year 9

Autumn Term

In year 9 students will build upon a knowledge of the requirements of a balanced diet and its constituent parts. They should have acquired a number of skills which will allow them to understand, manipulate and combine ingredients together to create a number of different dishes including developing their knife skills to make a Stir fry, making a batter to make a Toad in the Hole, Fajitas (making a marinade), Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins and Filo Crackers.

Students will have learn about why we need to cook food, Food Provenance where their food was grown, caught or raised, knowing how food was produced and transported and factors affecting Food Choice.  This will include whether we should buy British, Fairtrade, Seasonal foods and then considering other factors including religious reasons for choice, food miles and environmental factors we could consider when buying our food.  Students will build upon their skills making more complex dishes.

Year 10

Syllabus

Year 11

Syllabus