Our aim is to give all students an opportunity to learn about food and cook healthy dishes independently in a safe and hygienic manner.

We offer a wide range of practical tasks throughout KS3 to enable students to learn a variety of skills for preparing and cooking food. This not only leads on to our KS4 course, but also offers vital life skills for correctly and safely producing healthy, nutritious meals.

All students learn about the current guidance on healthy eating; how to make healthy choices; why it is important to be healthy; the different nutrients that the body needs. We also learn about appropriate hygiene and safety procedures.

Other topics include: where our food comes from; environmental issues; ingredient functions; evaluating and testing our food; foods from different cultures; working together in groups; independence to follow instructions; creativity with the use of ingredients.

Each academic year students improve their skills. For example, in Year 7 students make a pasta salad, and in Year 8 they progress to make macaroni cheese. This allows students to build on previously learnt skills and practical knowledge and apply them to make new products that are slightly more challenging. The knowledge of food theory also progresses between the different year groups.

Students are given the option to continue food in KS4 with our Hospitality and Catering qualification. This builds on what has been learnt in KS3 but is then applied to the industry. More complex skills are developed to make more challenging products, and a further knowledge of food issues are learnt to give students a broader understanding of the subject and industry.