Food is a basic need for all people. Not only does it provide us with essential nutrients we need in order to survive it has the capacity to bring us great joy. Throughout civilisation food has been used to bring people together; stories have been passed on, laughter, excitement, and fear shared. Our Food Nutrition and Catering curriculum exposes students to a range of cuisines from around the world, whilst also ensuring that students understand the vital part food plays in keeping us healthy. 

Our Food Nutrition and Catering curriculum empowers students with the knowledge they need to make informed choices, both now and later in life. We want our young people to be able to prepare and cook nutritional and balanced dishes for themselves and their families in order to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle independently. We aim to inspire and motivate students to cook foods with confidence from fresh and local ingredients. 

Skills are taught with a combination of both theory and practical work, with the addition of food science investigations to deepen knowledge and understanding of food and its properties within food preparation and cooking. We want to excite and engage our young people when learning about food and nutrition, to enable them to confidently live a healthy and varied lifestyle after leaving school.

Students will design, make and evaluate with technical knowledge across the course. The 6 areas of content are: food commodities; principles of nutrition; diet and good health; the science of food; where food comes from; cooking and food preparation. For each commodity, learners need to know and understand the value of it in the diet; features and characteristics including storage and hygiene; understanding of skill preparation and cooking methods for safe eating; origins and environmental issues surrounding it. 

We ensure that Food Nutrition and Catering compliments other subjects that students will experience, such as Science, Physical Education, Art, and Geography. Developing strong communication skills as well as practice developing a creative flair are deeply embedded in our curriculum – students will grow in confidence as their knowledge and skill increases.  

We hope that by teaching our students where food comes from, how it is made and how to prepare it in multiple ways, that we are giving them the ability to engage in healthy eating from a very early start.