Food and Nutrition

Subject leader

Curriculum Intent

At The Turing School, the Food and Nutrition curriculum is essential in providing students with the knowledge, skills, and cultural capital to become successful, confident, and happy adults. Through the curriculum, students develop their abilities to plan, create and evaluate a range of sweet and savoury dishes, while understanding different diets, lifestyle choices, and how to cater to diverse needs.

Our curriculum promotes innovation and creativity, encouraging students to put their own style and flair into their dishes, building independence and confidence. The curriculum inspires learners to make informed decisions about food and nutrition, providing them with the knowledge to feed themselves and others affordably and nutritiously, now and later in life. Beyond the classroom, the skills developed in our Food and Nutrition curriculum are transferable to a wide range of careers in the health, hospitality and catering industries, making it an important subject for the future success of our students.

Curriculum implementation

Learning journey

KS3

Year 7

During Year 7, students will be introduced to the concept of food safety and food hygiene. Students will be able to apply different skills and use different pieces of equipment to create a range of savoury dishes. Students will also understand how to design different dishes and customise them using a range of ingredients

Year 8

During Year 8, students will be looking at the Eat Well guidance in more depth. In doing so, they will be identifying and looking at a wide range of key nutrients from different food groups and understanding and exploring what they do in the body and what they contribute towards an active diet. Students will also consider a variety of ethical issues surrounding food, including free-range vs caged foods, understanding the term food files and the provenance of their food choices

Year 9

During Year 9, students will continue to look at the Eatwell Guide, taking into account different food groups and their properties, the effect on the body of different vitamins, minerals and fibre and what sources of food they can find them in. Students will also consider different areas of kitchen / food preparation hygiene, such as the causes and effects of food poisoning. Students will also understand the uses of different cooking methods, both on the hob and in the oven.

KS4

In Key Stage 4, we run the GCSE AQA Food and Nutrition course, which runs over 2 years. This course is made up of one exam (worth 40% of the final grade) and two Non Examined Assessments, which are both worth 30% of the final grade.

Year 10

During Year 10, students will look at different aspects of the GCSE Food and Nutrition course, including Food, nutrition and health. Food science. Food safety. Food choice. Food provenance.

Students will also complete different practical sessions, modelled around the Non Examined Assessments, which they will complete in Year 11. The first of these tasks will involve students conducting their own investigation into food properties and how they are used. The second task will feature students planning, preparing and making a range of meals for a set purpose. Students will be assessed during Year 10 in both their practical skills and theoretical knowledge.

Year 11

At the start of Year 11, the exam board releases the Non Examined Assessment briefs, and students will choose and complete their first Non Examined Assessment during the first term of September, which is their Food Research assessment. Students will then undertake a blend of theory areas, including investigations into the working characteristics, functional and chemical properties of ingredients. Whilst refining and developing their Food Preparation skills, in the lead up to their second Non Examined Assessment in the third and fourth term of Year 11.

Homework

During Key Stage 3, students will receive homeworks based around organising their ingredients for practical lessons and completing revision quizzes for theory topics.

During Key Stage 4, students will be using the Senaca Online website to test their knowledge of the GCSE Specification of Food and Nutrition

Additional websites and resources

Explore food

AQA Food Preparation and Nutrition student book

Careers and Enrichment

Guest chefs

Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors - it's how you combine them that sets you apart."

Curriculum