Food Preparation and Nutrition
Planning for this GCSE is written around the language learning needs of the students and varies with each academic year. A consistent theme involves aspirational recipes integrated with exam question practice. This is supported with a variety of electronic and paper based resources that support language development and vocabulary so that when we look at target grades, pupils can reflect on their subject strengths and areas for development and be involved in setting their own aspirational subject targets. Pupils develop planning skills with every recipe. The example below is current but will develop through the academic year.
Autumn 1
Year 10
Raw meat prep.
Chicken, Fish, Portioning, processing and shaping.
Cold board – Pate de campagne, pork pie, ribs, chutney
Hot dishes – pan fried chicken breast & veloute.
Calzone.
Ballotine & pan sauce.
Introduction to Seneca and exam questions.
Students study at a level that gives them access to higher grades with practical work. All food made from scratch.
Discussion syncs with practical work covering ethics, sustainability and food safety.
Year 11
NEA 1
The first Non examined Assessment brief is released on September 1st.
This is an investigation task where students need to find out the function of an ingredient in a recipe and conduct a series of experiments to prove their research and complete a written report – for example, investigate the function of sugar in cakes. This is 15% of the GCSE.
Autumn 2
Year 10
Fish:
Pan fried,
En papillotte,
Processed and shaped.
Pastry:
Rough puff
Shortcrust
Savoury pastry products,
Sweet pastry products.
Recipes develop range and technique, continuing to use the meat prepared at the start of the year.
Exam questions typically focus on nutrition and food poverty.
Year 11
NEA 2
The second Non Examined Assessment brief is released on November 1st. This is a practical cookery design task where pupils need to research, plan and make 3 dishes to an exam board brief, and complete a written report. This is 30% of the GCSE and usually takes until Easter to complete.
Spring 1
Year 10
Bread.
Basic bread dough,
Enriched dough, stuffed bread recipes.
A key language half term where we unpack the language of the exam paper and look at the longer discuss, evaluate and explain type questions.
Year 11
Practical assessments for NEA2
These take place around February half term – planning is flexible as the time it takes for students to master their dishes varies.
Spring 2
Year 10
Hot and Cold Desserts.
A good example of last year’s dessert was a Yorkshire parkin trifle with a grenadine jelly an enriched custard and chantilly cream (ref Great British Chefs).
We cover baking, setting agents, stocks and syrups.
There’s usually a cheesecake.
Year 10 make the desserts for a smart event the school holds in March. We use this as a design opportunity to trial and practise different hot and cold dishes with sauces and develop higher quality presentation techniques.
Year 11
Completing NEA 2 work.
Summer 1
Year 10
Pasta.
We make pasta from scratch and use it in a variety of recipes -
Carbonara,
Cream sauces, tomato sauces,
Ravioli.
Exam questions topics:
Food provenance,
ethics and climate change
Pasta is a staple food that leads into many conversations about seasonality, provenance and food miles which we attempt to capture with more detailed answers to exam questions.
Year 11
Revision
We use a range of methods and resources working at the student’s language level to support any language gaps and practice questions as we approach the summer paper.
Summer 2
Year 10
NEA 1 practice assessment.
Students practice a complete past assessment to learn the ropes – the real one is issued on Sept 1st at the start of Year 11.