KS4 Design & Technology
Food Preparation and Nutrition

At Townsend our curriculum will encourage students to cook and equip them with the knowledge to make informed decisions about the food that they eat. Food is a vital part of our daily lives and is essential for life. We wish to inform students about future career pathways and further educational opportunities within food as well as develop the life skills then enable them to feed themselves healthy, nutritious and affordable food.

Food and Nutrition students at Townsend will:

• demonstrate effective and safe cooking skills by planning, preparing and cooking using a variety of food commodities, cooking techniques and equipment
• develop knowledge and understanding of the functional properties and chemical processes as well as the nutritional content of food and drinks
• understand the relationship between diet, nutrition and health, including the physiological and psychological effects of poor diet and health
• understand the economic, environmental, ethical, and socio-cultural influences on food availability, production processes, and diet and health choices
• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of functional and nutritional properties, sensory qualities and microbiological food safety considerations when preparing, processing, storing, cooking and serving food
• understand and explore a range of ingredients and processes from different culinary traditions (traditional British and international), to inspire new ideas or modify existing recipes

Course Details

AQA GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition (8585)

Specification –https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/food/specifications/AQA-8585-SP-2016.PDF

Course Description

This new GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition is an exciting and creative course which focuses on practical cooking skills to ensure students develop a thorough understanding of nutrition, food provenance and the working characteristics of food materials. At its heart, this qualification focuses on nurturing students’ practical cookery skills to give them a strong understanding of nutrition.

Programme of Study

Food preparation skills are integrated into five core topics:

• Food, nutrition and health
• Food science
• Food safety
• Food choice
• Food provenance

Assessment

There are two elements to the assessment of GCSE Design and Technology.

1) Paper 1: Food Preparation and Nutrition

• 100 marks
• 1 hour 45 minutes
• 50% of overall GCSE

The exam will consist of multiple choice questions (20 marks) and 5 questions with a number of sub questions (80 marks). It will assess theoretical knowledge of food preparation and nutrition across all 5 core topics.

2) Non-Exam Assessment (NEA)

• 50 % of overall GCSE
• Task 1 – Food Investigation
  • 30 marks
  • 15% of overall GCSE
  • 1,500 – 2000 words, including photographic evidence of practical investigation
• Task 2 – Food Preparation Assessment
  • 70 marks
  • 35% of overall GCSE
  • Portfolio including photographic evidence of three final dishes

Home Learning

Students will be given homework tasks each week to complete, these will be set on Google Classroom. Home learning tasks will involve purchase and preparation of ingredients needed for lessons.

As well as completing their weekly homework task students are encouraged to cook at home.

Where can GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition take you?

Career opportunities for those who have studied GCSE food preparation and nutrition are interesting and varied.

Further Study

• A Level Food and Nutrition
• Level 3 Diploma in Food Technology
• Level 3 Diploma in Food Science and Nutrition

Careers

• Chef
• Food Technologist
• Nutritionist
• Catering
• Food Production
• Health and Fitness

How parents can support their child’s learning

• Discuss your child’s learning with them on a regular basis, ask them what learnt in their lesson, ask your child to teach you something that they learnt today as this will help to consolidate their learning.
• Encourage your child cook at home, this will help develop their repertoire of skills they can use in the GCSE non examined assessment.

Useful Links

• GCSE Pod: https://www.gcsepod.com/