Food and Nutrition

At Key Stage 3, students develop the key areas of theory that underpin the study of food. These areas are health and nutrition, factors affecting food choice and an introduction to the hospitality and catering industry. Within this three years of study the key focus is to develop the students practical skills, aiming to build the students confidence in producing high-level products and to develop their theoretical understanding of how food has an impact on both personal health and wellbeing and how food, as an industry, contributes to the UK and global economy. The emphasis is on the students gaining the skills and practical knowledge needed to enable them to produce good quality products.

In year 9 we start to look at food and the production of food as an industry, whilst still building on the students practical skills. We also start to look at the opportunities and roles the industry can provide, in relation to future employment.

To ensure that all student can be the best versions of themselves and to ensure that they can fully access the Food and Nutrition curriculum, we provide our students with demonstrations, pictorial making guides, examples of what quality work looks like and will provide literacy resources such as key word cards and sentence starters. We also ensure that we re-cap key points to ensure that learning can be embedded and then built upon further. Our aim is to ensure that all students are challenged and that they can enjoy their time within our subject area.

Year 7: Health and Nutrition:

• Balanced diets
• Macro and micronutrients.
• Effects of excess and deficiency.
• Linking made products to nutritional factors.
• Food provenance
• Seasonality 

Within this year of study, the students will complete a wide range of practical activities to enable them to continue to develop their making skills. The majority of lesson time, within this year of study, is dedicated to developing practical skill levels. 

Year 8: Factors affecting food choice: 

• Understanding specialist dietary needs and the range of factors that can influence food choices. Students then focus on cost/income, allergies and intolerances and moral factors that can affect food choice.
• Sensory analysis of food.
• Linking made products to dietary needs. 

Within this year of study, the students will complete a wide range of practical activities to enable them to continue to develop their making skills. The majority of lesson time, within this year of study, is dedicated to developing practical skill levels. 

Year 9: Introduction to Hospitality and catering: 

• Understanding the Hospitality and Catering industry.
• Hospitality and Catering Providers.
• Service styles.
• Portion control and presentation.
• Customer service skills and customer satisfaction.
• Accuracy
• The students will also complete a mini design brief. 

Within this year of study, students will continue to develop their higher level making skills. Students will complete a wide range of practical activities in which they make products suitable for different Hospitality and Catering settings, demonstrating their understanding of portion control and professional presentation skills. 

The range of skills and knowledge that are studied at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 are relevant to many areas of employment and further areas of study. If students want to continue their food based education post Y11 there are many college and university courses on offer.

The Hospitality and Catering industry is a major employer of people in the UK and globally. An understanding of food and cookery can help you progress in a variety of different sectors and job roles. Here are a few examples:

Hospitality and Catering: This is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, with a huge range of job roles from Chefs and Restaurant Managers to Housekeepers and Concierges. This area of employment is fast-paced and usually a team based environment, working in areas such as a hotel, restaurant or bar.

Health and Well-being is another potential area of employment where you can use your

interest in health and well-being, rather than your cooking skills. In this area, you might become a Personal Trainer working in a leisure centre or a hospital based Dietician advising patients on how to modify their eating patterns.

You may look to become a Food Product Developer. In this job role, you could be working in a development kitchen developing new food products and improving existing ones to meet changing consumer demands and trends.

Jobs are also available in Food Retail. As a Food Retailer, you may work for an independent shop or a large supermarket chain and you could be responsible for ordering stock, preparing displays, serving customers and advising on preparing and cooking meals.