Food Preparation and Nutrition

Curriculum Intent

At The Eastbourne Academy, the Food Preparation and Nutrition curriculum plays a
crucial role in equipping our students with the knowledge and skills required to
create, cook, and evaluate their own nutritious dishes. With a focus on a range of
cultural backgrounds, our curriculum aims to inspire and challenge students to
develop independence and positive curiosity around the different foods available to
them.
By fostering an interest and love of food, learners acquire knowledge to make
informed decisions about food and nutrition, enabling them to feed themselves and
others affordably and nutritiously now and later in life. Through this curriculum, we
strive to produce confident, independent, and happy individuals with a passion for
learning who can apply the principles of food science, nutrition, and healthy eating to
become successful learners and members of society. By providing students with the
opportunity to create and evaluate their dishes, we are building cultural capital and
encouraging respect for diverse culinary traditions.
The department supplies the ingredients to cook with and take away containers for
all students to carry food home. This is to support busy parents in saving time and
money by buying ingredients in bulk and having everything ready for students when
they enter the lesson. Parents pay for ingredients on ParentPay.

Curriculum Implementation

We recognise that our curriculum goes beyond what happens in the classroom, and is a broad term that encompasses our wider offer.

Our Knowledge Curriculum: Ambition in the Classrooms

KS3

KS3 students have a double lesson once a week focussing on cooking, nutrition and the science behind cooking. The students participate in a rotation with Design Technology and IT . Students will have two seven-week double periods in food across the year where they learn to cook a repertoire of mainly savoury meals building on abroad range of preparation and cooking skills whilst gaining a greater understanding of the science behind it. Students are given demonstrations on how to prepare and cook as well as step by step recipes to promote independence. Discussions and questioning on nutrition and functions of ingredients improve students' knowledge, confidence and vocabulary. Students evaluate each other's cooking and presentation skills and compete to have their dish to be put on the TEA Top Chefs board.

KS4

KS4 students are studying AQA GCSE in Food Preparation and nutrition. Taking on new challenges such as cooking meals from other cultures, making different pastries and boning a whole chicken. In Year 10 students spend six periods a fortnight in Food, two hours every fortnight practising their cooking skills, and four hours gaining knowledge and vocabulary for exam preparation. Students sit written tests at the end of each topic to check their understanding which promotes revision and review of knowledge. Weekly homework on Seneca promotes knowledge recall. In year 10 cooking is demonstrated whilst the students are learning new complex skills but move to independent cooking following recipes as the year progresses.

Students' GCSE portfolios are completed electronically on laptops and marked electronically. KS4 students have an additional written folder for exam theory preparation. In year 11 students complete two NEA tasks worth 50% of their GCSE.The first is a food investigation where Students' understanding of the working characteristics and functional and chemical properties of ingredients are tested. The second is a Food preparation assessment. Students' knowledge, skills, and understanding in relation to the planning, preparation, cooking, presentation of food, and application of nutrition related to the chosen task. Students will prepare, cook and present a final menu of three dishes within a single period of more than three hours, planning in advance how this will be achieved.

Our Character Curriculum: Ambitious Individuals

Students enjoy the challenges we give them in the two hour food lessons. Students are able to thrive creating complex dishes and work responsibly in the kitchen. Success builds their self esteem and confidence. Students are able to transfer the skills of teamwork, resilience, creativity, working to a timescale and independence to other areas as well as cooking skills that help to obtain employment in the local hospitality industry. The curriculum covers a wide range of dishes from different countries as well as teaching about religious diets and tastings of foods from diverse cultures.

Our Cultural Curriculum: Ambition Beyond our Classrooms

Students have a range of opportunities across the year to experience new foods and cultures and show their cooking skills.In KS3 students can join the after school cooking club which runs for five weeks each term focusing on different types of cooking such as healthy eating or Christmas baking. Year 11 students can attend weekly revision or NEA catch-up sessions. Students are encouraged to enter competitions such as Chef of the Year, which is an individual competition where the winners get to work with a local chef to then represent the Academy at the Eastbourne Young Chef Finals. Swalefeast is a Year 9 team cooking competition where the students compete in the kitchen against the other Swale Academies. Year 9s also have the opportunity to participate in a Walking Food T our in London where students learn about the history of the local area and sample foods that different cultures have brought to the East End of London. Year 10 Food students will be given the opportunity to visit the local college to eat an afternoon tea in their restaurant made by the college students and have a tour of their catering course facilities.We additionally have visits from The Executive Chef of the Grand Hotel to give our GCSE students masterclasses to improve their techniques.