WJEC Level 1/2 Award in Hospitality and Catering
Why is the study of Hospitality and Catering important?
Being able to cook is an essential skill that is an integral part of everyday life. Within the food department, we aim to equip students with the skills needed to be able to provide for themselves and their future families, be healthy, informed adults and knowledgeable consumers. We want to develop the student’s confidence whilst using a wide range of ingredients to prepare meals for a special occasion or for everyday consumption. We aim to support students in developing their understanding of food and how it is made, making clear links to how a balanced diet can contribute to each changing life stage. By understanding food and its origins our students can start to make informed decisions, which will be valuable throughout their adulthood. The type of food you eat affects both your physical and psychological well-being.
The right foods can boost happiness, increase mental functioning, help maintain the appropriate body weight and can help to prevent specific illnesses in later life. We aim to provide the students with a rounded knowledge of food to empower them and become consumers that are more informed. Learning to cook is fun, it is engaging and provides students with an opportunity to develop their creativity within a practical, food based setting.
In addition to being one of the most important life skills, food is also a vital factor in the hospitality and catering industry, which is one of the largest industries and biggest employers in the UK. It offers a variety of opportunities both regionally, nationally and internationally.
-
How will the curriculum be implemented?
At Key Stage 4, students follow a Food and Cookery route building on what they have already learned at KS3. They will continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of how to achieve a balanced diet and why this is important, they will develop an in-depth knowledge of nutrition and also have to consider the range of factors that can affect food choice.
To ensure that all student can be the best versions of themselves and to ensure that they can fully access the Food and Cookery 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. Students will also be provided with individual revision guides to enable them to be fully prepared for the written examination and will be provided with support packs to enable them to successfully complete the synoptic project.
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.
-
Careers
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.
Student Testimonial
“Hospitality and catering is not only enjoyable in school, but it helps to build life skills. It includes activities such as cooking, which ranges from savoury to sweet meals/dishes. Also, it helps people to build a greater understanding of the food that enters our body and the effect it has on us.”
