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Food Curriculum Intent Statement
"Our food should be our medicine, and our medicine should be our food."
The importance of Food in our community today is huge. With a rise in obesity and mental health issues it is more important than ever to teach our students the importance of food through all aspects of life. We need to inspire our students to want to cook homemade dishes, to enjoy the art of cooking, to understand the benefits of healthy eating, to develop healthy bodies and how food supports healthy minds!
The Food curriculum provides an inspiring experience to ensure our students progress from Year 7 with enthusiasm and passion for food in the future. The curriculum builds on the food skills, knowledge and understanding already covered at primary school and within the home environment. The curriculum is broken in to 7 main areas. Each area has a set of ‘key constructs’ which represent the most important ideas and knowledge that students need to know.
The course has been designed to spiral through Year 7 to Year 11 interleaving the key constructs to ensure a secure understanding of food and nutrition.
Our Year 7 & 8 scheme of learning is carefully planned to cover the National Curriculum with a strong focus on the Eatwell Guide. It is important that our students understand the benefits of a healthy balanced diet from the youngest age as this well help inform their choices throughout their school life and guide them to make secure choices in the future. The teaching of nutrition is supported through clear lead lessons and demonstrations of basic to complex skills in learning how to make a range of predominantly savoury dishes as part of a healthy and affordable diet. It builds on this by encouraging students to adapt existing recipes to further consider the balance of the Eatwell Guide. Year 8 builds on the key constructs of Year 7 again with lead lessons to allow students to understand and accept how and why food differs in different countries and why one person’s food choice may be different to another’s. Students consider economic, environmental, ethical, religious and socio-cultural influences on food availability, production processes and diet and health choices. Regular assessment is built in to all years to ensure the key constructs are clearly understood with a flightpath grade noted. Each key construct is revisited numerous times to ensure mastery here. Through Year 7 and 8 the course aims to instil a love of cooking that will at the very least ensure students are able to feed themselves and others.
After the first option process at the end of Year 8, Year 9 students who have chosen to continue to study Food begin to revisit the key constructs and identify key elements of assessment linked to the courses available in Year 10 and 11. The course is structured to introduce aspects of both the GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition and Level 1/2 Hospitality and Catering through a range of different topic areas. This allows to students to identify the similarities and differences between the expectations of both courses.
In Year 10 students start studying their chosen Food subject. Students continue to build on the key constructs consolidating their learning. Both Hospitality and Catering and Food Preparation and Nutrition are structured to ensure a range of learning opportunities linked to a number of outside agencies to support students in seeing the links to future aspirations. Both courses work through a number of similar focused ‘topics’ which involve practical and written work.
In Hospitality and Catering students start their Assignment Brief in Year 11 and complete their online/paper written assessment in the Summer term. In Food Preparation and Nutrition students have two NEAs to complete in Year 11 before sitting their written exam in the June. Between controlled assessment sessions, lessons will continue to revisit the key constructs and build on mastery through modelling and assessment.
Key Constructs
- There are recommended guidelines for a healthy diet (Eatwell Guide). Nutritional needs change for different life stages, including those with specific dietary needs
- There are recommended daily energy amounts provided by protein, fat and carbohydrates (starch, sugars, fibre) that should be included in the diet. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) and physical activity level (PAL) determine energy requirements in order to maintain a healthy body weight throughout life
- The body needs macro and micro nutrients to function efficiently. Malnutrition is the result of a poor diet that doesn’t meet dietary reference values
- Energy and nutritional needs can be calculated for different people’s needs
- Meals can be planned to consider dietary needs There are major diet related health risks including obesity, cardiovascular, bone health, dental health, iron deficiency anaemia, diabetes It is important to keep hydrated to enable the body to function
- Foods come from a range of sources; grown, reared, or caught
- Processing affects the sensory and nutritional properties of ingredients
- There are a range of environmental issues linked to food including food security
- Food can be modified to improve food production and increase health benefits
- Sensory perception guides the choices that people make through taste receptors and olfactory systems
- The sensory qualities of a range of foods can be tested through tasting panels
- There are a range of factors that influence food choices, including enjoyment, preferences, seasonality, costs, availability, time of day, activity, celebration or occasion
- People make choices about certain foods according to religion, culture, ethical belief or medical reason
- People make informed choices about food and drink to achieve a varied and balanced diet, including awareness of portion sizes and costs
- British Foods and International cuisine are different due to their distinctive features, characteristics, traditional and modern variations of recipes, cooking methods, presentation and eating patterns
- There are specific conditions needed for microorganisms to grow and multiply
- Food spoilage can be recognised through taste, texture, appearance and aroma as the signs of microorganisms
- Microorganism can be used in food production There are many types of bacteria and food poisoning symptoms
- There are a number of food safety principles in buying, storing, preparing, cooking and serving food
- The working characteristics, functional and chemical properties of ingredients can be altered to achieve a particular result
- Heat is transferred to food through conduction, convection and radiation
- There are a range of cooking methods that impact on food
- The Hospitality and Catering providers operate in different environments
- H&C provisions operate in different ways depending on their purpose
- H&C provisions must meet
- H&S requirements Food establishments are rated based on their performance in a range of areas
- consider the influence of lifestyle and consumer choice when developing meals and recipes
- consider nutritional needs and food choices when selecting recipes, including when making decisions about the ingredients, processes, cooking methods and portion sizes
- develop the ability to review and make improvements to recipes by amending them to include the most appropriate ingredients, processes, cooking methods and portion sizes
- manage the time and cost of recipes effectively
- use their testing and sensory evaluation skills, adjusting where needed, to improve the recipe during the preparation and cooking process
- explain, justify and present their ideas about their chosen cooking methods to others
- make decisions about which techniques are appropriate based on their understanding of nutrition, food, different culinary traditions and cooking and food preparation content in order to achieve their intended outcome. They should be able to carry out these techniques safely and combine them into appealing meals whilst evaluating the results.
Knowledge Organisers
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Learning Journey
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