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Food & Nutrition

List of TLR Holders and their responsibilities:

Mrs Laura Green - Head of Food & Nutrition

Department Aims:

The Food & Nutrition department at Robert May’s aims to help students develop their knowledge and the wide range of practical and organisation skills needed to prepare, cook and present high-quality food products which meet nutritional targets and promote good health, to feed themselves and others. Students will also acquire an understanding of the importance of food safety, food hygiene and food science.

Approaches to teaching and learning:

Food & Nutrition is a practical based subject: most lessons allow students to develop their practical skills through hands-on food preparation. Theoretical knowledge is taught alongside and through practical experiences. Practical skills become more complex as the students’ progress through the years building up their core skills and competences.

Curriculum Intent:

All students arrive at Robert May’s showing a variety of different levels of Food preparation skills. Our aim is to ensure that by the end of Year 8 all students are confident and capable of preparing a variety of dishes that they could use to feed themselves and their family which are nutritious, cost effective and reflect current Government guidelines regarding healthy eating. At the end of Year 8 students can opt to continue studying Food & Nutrition in Year 9 and as an option at GCSE in Years 10 and 11.

How students will receive feedback to enhance their knowledge and skills:

KS3

At the end of each practical lesson students are offered individual, group or whole class feedback on how they have worked and their finished product. This will include the overall quality of the finished product, suggestions as to how they may improve the outcome, their working practises or why they have been so successful.

KS4

During practise NEA and controlled assessments students are given:

Clear checklists of the work that is required including schedules of planned work and dates to allow completion of all work within the suggested examination timeframes
Expectations are modelled through shared exemplar materials
Students are given regular feedback on their progress towards their target grade and targets for improvement through individual feedback
Students are made aware of their homework/written record through whole class shared progress charts
Students receive verbal feedback constantly during practical lessons relating to improving skill, working practises or presentation of their dish

Reading List (Key Stage 3):

How Food Works (The facts Visually explained) ISBN:978-0-2412-8939-6
The Science of Cooking ISBN: 978- 0-2412-2978-1

Reading List (GCSE):

Food Preparation and Nutrition ISBN: 978-1-908682-85-7 (Available digitally via RMS VLE)
Food Preparation and Nutrition Revision Guide ISBN: 978-1-908682-87-1
How Food Works (The facts Visually explained) ISBN:978-0-2412-8939-6
The Science of Cooking ISBN: 978- 0-2412-2978-1

Extracurricular and enrichment:

Food for Fun Club
KS3 RMS Great British Bake Off
Year 9 Weekly Revision/Support after school sessions for GCSE students

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural opportunities:

There are many opportunities at Robert May’s for students within Food & Nutrition to develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally.

Spiritually: This can be shown through:

Students can reflect about their own beliefs, religions and traditions around food, whilst being able to consider opinions of others
How different food choices are linked to different faiths and feelings and how this affects others
The sense of enjoyment of learning how to make food to share or for others.

Morally: This can be evidenced through:

The ability to recognise right from wrong and how this can affect their lives whilst applying this knowledge to views such as vegetarianism, food miles, or the importance of recycling
How students’ own views on food are considered regarding food sustainability
How students can consider consequences in relation to their own actions, for example with recycling.

Socially: This is evidenced through:

The ability to understand that religion, ethnicity, allergies and socio-economic background can influence the foods that are eaten by different families
Sitting together to eat/share food together as a class.

Culturally: This is evidenced through:

The ability to understand the wide range of cultural influences that shape British food heritage
Understanding the importance of traditional British and multicultural recipes and foods that reflect the diverse range of foods available in Britain today
The ability to understand and appreciate the views of others in relation to food choices based on their culture, religion, faith or ethnicity

Character development and British Values opportunities:

Within Food & Nutrition at Robert May’s students are always listened to and are taught to listen carefully and with concern for each other, respecting the right of every individual to have their opinions and voices heard. Students know and understand that it is expected that respect is shown to everyone, whatever differences we may have related to our food choices. Students in Food & Nutrition are given the opportunity to show resilience, and to become good self-managers.