Our Food Technology department equips students with practical skills, creativity and insight to thrive in the fast‑moving world of food, hospitality and catering, personally and professionally. Understanding nutrition empowers them to lead healthy lives. The curriculum builds strong competencies in food preparation, hygiene, nutrition and customer service. Learning links to real careers, giving students solid knowledge of professional roles and expectations while opening pathways to further study, apprenticeships or work. We aim to inspire future chefs, nutritionists and hospitality leaders, support every student in gaining qualifications and confidence, and instil lifelong appreciation for food, wellbeing and sustainability.
The Key Stage 3 curriculum alternates weekly between theory and practical lessons, with each year’s theory theme drawn from GCSE Hospitality & Catering. Students will: understand and apply the principles of nutrition and health; cook a repertoire of mainly savoury dishes to feed themselves and others a healthy, varied diet; become competent in a range of cooking techniques (e.g. selecting ingredients, using equipment, applying heat, judging taste/texture, adapting recipes);understand the source, seasonality and characteristics of a broad range of ingredients
Key Stage 4 focuses on the theoretical content for Hospitality & Catering, delivered through one 50‑minute theory session and one 100‑minute practical session each week, ensuring students gain both deep knowledge and advanced cooking skills.
KS3 homework is issued in fortnightly booklets that run through a Pre‑learning → Application → Consolidation cycle. Tasks and reflection prompts help students arrive in class prepared, confident and ready to progress in the kitchen, echoing our vision of turning mistakes into growth opportunities.
KS4 homework focusses on extending classroom learning. Written assignments and skills‑based activities—such as devising nutritionally balanced recipes—assess students’ ability to apply taught knowledge and prepare them systematically for NEA coursework and exam revision.
Literacy Lessons open with keywords and definitions; plenaries stretch writing by requiring students to apply their new Tier 2/3 vocabulary.
Numeracy Schemes and homework embed maths for kitchen tasks—weighing, scaling recipes, and converting units—honing practical numeracy.
