Food & Nutrition - KS4

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Food and Nutrition teaches both the theory and practical skills which prepares students for adulthood. Students are strongly encouraged to adapt recipes to meet their own dietary requirements, enriching their relationship with food and nutrition. The subject develops a range of skills such as time management, independence, creativity, fine motor skills as well as teamwork which are vital for all learning and excellent life skills

 

Curriculum Vision & Road map

Catholic Teaching in Food Tech

Please click on the links below for further details about the course

Course Title: GCSE Food Preparation & Nutrition

Exam Board: Eduqas

Link to specification

 

Being a practical subject the course is assessed in the following way:

50% Non Examined Assessment : 50% Final written exam

 

The 'Non Examined Assessment' commonly referred to as NEA is completed in Year 11 and has two sections:

NEA 1 is a "food investigation task" and worth 15% of total GCSE.

  • Students study the role of a specific ingredient and the impact it has on the final result through research, experiments and analysis.
  • Completed during the first half of the autumn half term

NEA 2 is a "food preparation task" and worth 35% of total GCSE.

  • Students research the title, trial dishes, plan, evaluate and culminates in a three hour practical exam  - 3 dishes with sides.
  • This is very similar to an episode of Masterchef and to achieve high grades food must be high skilled and presented extremely well.
  • Start after October half term and completed by late February

 

Examples of NEA 1 Task titles

Examples of NEA 2 Task titles

All students start Year 10 with a strong range of practical skills, having completed the KS3 curriculum. The aim in Year 10 is build students's confidence and presentation techniques when making high skilled dishes. Students are given a recipe book at the start of the year but students are also encouraged to source their own recipes, in line with the theme of the practical.To expand the range of skills, these are some of the dishes made :-

4/8 strand bread plait

Viennese Whirls

Kebabs

Soup

Profiteroles

Rough Puff pastry

Sweet & Savoury pastry

Naan / pitta bread

Fresh flavoured pasta

Baked / gelatin set cheesecake

Sectioning a chicken

Filleting a fish

50% of the course is assessed in a written exam and may include content from anything related to practical tasks to the following sections:-

Food Science: to know how cooking affects food by developing knowledge of the functional and working properties of a range of ingredients . 

Principles of Nutrition: to learn about both macro and micro nutrients

Food Provenance: understand the economic, environmental, ethical and social-cultural influences on food availability, production processes, diet and health choices  

Food Manufacturing: explores a range of ingredients and processes from different culinary traditions

Food Choices: know the different factors which can affect our choice of food ingredents from seasonality to specific dietary needs

Food Spoilage: to know the positive used of micro organisms in food production and to understand how/why food decays.

Energy values for individuals: being able to identify the needs of different individuals

Food Commodities: to be able to identify the nutritional content of food 

Written Paper Preparing for exams

Students have access to the following revison resources on showbie:-

Textbook

Revision book

Seneca links

Past papers and marking schemes

Whilst we all appreciate exams ,ay cause anxiety - this should be the best exam of their entire life! Why? Because there are no surprise questions. Students plan and can practice every element of ther dish om advance.

I will be honest...from past experience students that practice (practical revision) definitely gain the higher marks.

Students have their typed booklets for each sub unit 

Evert student is issued with a paper revsion booklet with a range of questions from all sections of the curriculum.

 Students all write a personal woven time plan so that they can go into the exam felling confident they can succesfully produce their 3 dishes and accompliments in the 3 hours permitted

 

Onviously,  we all need to need to eat everyday to survive. Here are some top tips that may help help raise student's confidence and identify how they can improve.

  • Give both postive and constructive feedback when they create a dish/meal
  • Encorage students to cook at home - ideally once a week
  • Repeat the high skilled dishes made in lessons again at home
  • Practice a range of presentation skills - even a sandwich can be dressed up
  • Discuss the nutrition in a meal you are eating - from protein to a specific vitamin or mineral
  • Discuss where your ingredients were originally from - example grown in Spain not Sainsburys

Thank you in advance for everything you do to help your child be successful!

There are a wide range of doors that can be opened including:-

  • Health related careers including medicine, occupational health, nursing and physiotherapy
  • Food Manufacturing in the biggest industry in the UK - there are many roles avaliable from designers, to marketing, photography as well as recreating new products
  • Working within the hospiatlity industry
  • Excellent for developing personal culinary skills for life at university or leaving home
  • Many students have been accepted on courses due to their ability to perform well doing coursework
  • Life skills such as organisation, resilience, timekeeping plus working both independently and as a team are transferrable skills to nearly every job in the future.
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