Food Preparation & Nutrition

“Nutrition for a healthy future”

Our Preparation & Nutrition curriculum intends to:

Inspire pupils to gain knowledge and practical experience of preparing and making a wide range of creative, innovative and complex dishes that enable them to make informed and healthy choices about the foods they eat;

Enable pupils to think critically about the best ethical and moral choices.

Develop an understanding of the practical application of scientific principles of food preparation.

Secondary Choices Process

Learn More

Why Learn Food Preparation & Nutrition?

Food Preparation and Nutrition equips pupils with the knowledge, understanding and skills required to prepare different foods and apply the principles of food science, nutrition and healthy eating. It encourages pupils to cook, enables them to make informed decisions about food and nutrition and allows them to acquire knowledge in order to feed themselves and others affordably and nutritiously, now and later in life.

Course Skills:

Designing and making high quality products using a wide range of skills in the safe and hygienic preparation of food.
Learning about the science behind food and the way the physical and chemical properties of ingredients are essential to creating successful dishes.
Developing organisational skills, including the management of time.
Reading, understanding and following recipes, selecting suitable ingredients.
Sensory analysis of own products as well as existing ones
Using and understanding technical vocabulary and applying it in context.

Year 7 and 8 Course Content:

In Years 7 and 8, all pupils study Food Preparation and Nutrition for one lesson a week, this generally alternates between theory then practical lessons.

Aims:

The course content aims to deliver the theoretical knowledge needed by carrying out practical activities with the recipe linking to the topic being taught. These practical lessons will develop essential practical skills and understanding of ingredients and recipes. It is designed to provide all pupils with a range of cookery skills, knowledge of nutrition as well as an understanding of food science, food safety, food choice and food provenance.

Course information:

In Year 7 we consider:

Preparing for practical work.
Personal safety.
Weighing and measuring accurately.
Using an oven safely.
Using specialised cooking equipment.
Introduction to nutrition and healthy eating.
Allergens and intolerances.
Cuisine from different cultures.
Knife skills - Fruit and vegetables.
Preparation skills – Fruit and vegetables.
Making doughes and using raising agents – Scones.
How to make a range of sauces – Reduction (Bolognaise/tomato/curry).
Food waste - Using leftovers.
Mini design and make project - Muffins.
Planning for practical assessment - Baked bean challenge.
Practical and written assessment.

Practical lessons

Recipes may include: knife skills, fruit salad, courgette brownies, pasta and tomato sauce, Hawaiian poke bowls, scones, goujons, spaghetti Bolognaise, fridge-raid pasta bake, baked bean challenge, muffins, crumble dips and dippers, stir fry, curry.

In Year 8 we consider:

Macro and micro nutrients – Sources and functions.
The science behind bread - Gluten formation.
The science of pastries - Shortening.
Food waste.
Food seasonality.
Knife skills – Fruit and vegetables.
Preparation skills – Fruit and vegetables.
Producing doughs – Lean and enriched breads, yeast.
Pastry skills - Shortcrust and blind baking.
Prosucing sauces – Gelatinisation of roux-based sauce (macaroni cheese/lasagne).
Dietary requirements – Vegetarian and vegan
Aeration - Swiss roll/Yule log.
Raising agents – Biological, chemical and mechanical
Food commodities – Potatoes, rice, pasta and bread.
Sensory evaluations.
Mini design and make project - Sponge tartlets.
Planning for practical assessment.
Practical and written assessment.

Practical lessons:

Recipes may include: cooking eggs in different ways, jerk chicken/halloumi, meatballs and tomato sauce, apple pie, quiche, macaroni cheese, ice cream and fruit coulis, fougasse, savoury swirls, vegan hot cross buns, gingerbread, savoury profiteroles, sponge cake, sponge tartlets, macaroni cheese.

Year 9 Course Content:

In Year 9, all pupils study Food Preparation and Nutrition for two hours a week, this generally alternates between theory then practical lessons.

Aims:

The course content aims to deliver the theoretical knowledge needed by carrying out practical activities with the recipe linking to the topic being taught and to further enrich and deepen the pupils knowledge from KS3. Practical lessons will build upon skills already

learned whilst also develop key practical and technical skills and understanding of ingredients and recipes. It is designed to provide all pupils with a range of cookery skills, knowledge of nutrition as well as an understanding of food science, food safety, food choice and food provenance.

Course information

In Year 9 we consider:

The importance of a healthy balanced diet.
Nutritional analysis.
Life stage requirements.
Different cooking methods and how they affect the properties of different foods.
Bacterial contamination and the role of micro-organisms and enzymes in food spoilage.
The influence of food from different countries and religions.
Food labelling and marketing.
How to buy, store, prepare, serve, and cook food properly.
Where food comes from and how can we make the most of our seasonal produce
Design and make Afternoon Tea project.
Preparation skills – Jointing chicken, piping and shaping.
Dough and Pastry skills – Pasta, puff and choux pastries.
Bread skills – Brioche buns.
Pasta skills – Tagliatelle and ravioli.
Biological aeration and fermentation.
Gluten formation.
Caramelisation.
Planning for practical assessment.
Practical and written assessment.

Practical lessons:

Recipes may include: fakeaway, burgers and brioche buns, samosas, tarte tatin, tagliatelle/ravioli and sauce, profiteroles with crème pâtissière, chicken Kievs, jam, sausage rolls, share and tear brea

Food Prparation and Nutrition

GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition is an exciting and creative course which focuses on practical cooking skills to ensure students develop a thorough understanding of nutrition, food provenance and the working characteristics of food materials. At its heart, this qualification focuses on nurturing pupils’ practical cookery skills to give them a strong understanding of nutrition.

We encourage pupils of all abilities to make full use of their skills and to exceed their potential by taking the AQA Food Preparation and Nutrition GCSE.

Pupils are encouraged to enter external competitions such as the Future Chef Competition, the Tunnocks Teacake Challenge and complete the Junior Chef Programme run by Eastleigh College – we have already had a number of Y10 and Y11 pupils graduate with glowing reviews.

Course information:

There are 6 main topics in the GCSE Course:

Food Preparation Skills - a range of food preparation and cooking skills needed throughout the GCSE.
Food, Nutrition and Health - Macronutrients, micronutrients and the nutritional needs and health.
Food Science - Cooking, heat transfer and the functional and chemical properties of food.
Food Safety - Food spoilage and contamination and principles of food safety.
Food Choice - Factors affecting food choice, British and International cuisine, sensory evaluation, food labelling and food marketing.
Food Provenance - Environmental impact of food and sustainability of food, food processing and food production.

Assessment:

15% – Food Science Practical Investigation – NEA 1

Pupils show their understanding of the working characteristics, and functional and chemical properties of ingredients.

35% – Food Practical Preparation – NEA 2

Pupils demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding in relation to the planning, preparation, cooking, presentation of food and application of nutrition related to a chosen task. Pupils do this by preparing, cooking and presenting a final menu of three dishes within three hours, planning in advance how this will be achieved.

50% – Written Exam Paper

Pupils are assessed on their theoretical knowledge of food preparation and nutrition from the subject content. The exam is 1 hour 45 minutes and is out of 100 marks, with multiple choice questions (20 marks) and five longer questions each with a number of sub-questions (80 marks).

Exam Board: AQA – 8585

The Westgate School
4 - 16 'all-through' school

Learning Together - Achieving Excellence

Our Preparation & Nutrition curriculum intends to:

Secondary Choices Process

Why Learn Food Preparation & Nutrition?

Course Skills:

Year 7 and 8 Course Content:

Aims:

Course information:

Practical lessons

Practical lessons:

Year 9 Course Content:

Aims:

Course information

Practical lessons:

Food Prparation and Nutrition

Course information:

Assessment:

15% – Food Science Practical Investigation – NEA 1

35% – Food Practical Preparation – NEA 2

50% – Written Exam Paper

The Westgate School 4 - 16 'all-through' school ​

Learning Together - Achieving Excellence

Our Preparation & Nutrition curriculum intends to:

Secondary Choices Process

Why Learn Food Preparation & Nutrition?

Course Skills:

The Westgate School
4 - 16 'all-through' school