Food science helps us understand how food works and why it is important for our health and everyday lives.
PRACTICAL COOKERY SKILLS
Pupils focus on developing practical cookery skills that will help them prepare healthy meals safely and confidently. They learn essential life skills such as planning meals, selecting ingredients, preparing food safely, and using a range of cooking techniques. Pupils also begin to understand basic nutrition and how a balanced diet supports good health.
Through practical cooking lessons, pupils explore how ingredients change during cooking and how different methods can affect flavour, texture, and appearance. They also learn about food hygiene, kitchen safety, and how to reduce food waste.
By studying food science, pupils build confidence in the kitchen and develop useful skills that will support independent living and healthy eating in the future.
Our curriculum builds strong foundations in Years 7–9 and prepares pupils for success at GCSE and beyond. Through an engaging programme of study, boys develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to enjoy the subject and achieve their potential.
Year 7 – 9
Year 7 In Year 7, pupils are introduced to the basic principles of food science. The main focus is on developing fundamental practical cookery skills, including safe knife techniques, basic food preparation, and understanding health and safety in the kitchen. Pupils work increasingly independently to prepare a range of mainly savoury dishes, building confidence and essential life skills while learning how to work safely and hygienically.
Year 8 In Year 8, pupils build on the skills developed in Year 7. Practical tasks become more challenging, requiring greater independence and organisation while working within time constraints. Pupils continue to develop their cookery skills while being introduced to key food science concepts, including basic nutrition and the factors that influence food choice.
Year 9 In Year 9, pupils begin preparing for GCSE study by exploring the five key areas covered in the GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition course: food science, nutrition, food safety and hygiene, food choice, and food provenance. Pupils complete a range of practical and written tasks that reflect the GCSE course, and their understanding is assessed through an end-of-year examination and coursework-style activities linked to the GCSE specification.
GCSE
Food Preparation and Nutrition -AQA 8585
Food Preparation and Nutrition is an exciting and creative course which focuses on practical cooking skills to ensure pupils develop a thorough understanding of nutrition, food provenance and the working characteristics of food materials. At its heart, this qualification focuses on nurturing pupils’ practical cookery skills to give them a strong understanding of nutrition.
Food preparation skills are integrated into five core topics:
Food, nutrition and health, Food science, Food safety, Food choice,Food provenance
Paper 1: Food preparation and nutrition
What’s assessed: Theoretical knowledge of food preparation and nutrition, Written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes, 100 marks -50% of GCSE Questions, Multiple choice questions (20 marks), Five questions each with a number of sub questions (80 marks).
Non-exam assessment (NEA)
Task 1: Food investigation (30 marks)
Pupils’ understanding of the working characteristics, functional and chemical properties of ingredients. Practical investigations are a compulsory element of this NEA task.
Task 2: Food preparation assessment (70 marks)
Pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding in relation to the planning, preparation, cooking, presentation of food and application of nutrition related to the chosen task. Pupils will prepare, cook and present a final menu of three dishes within a single period of no more than three hours, planning in advance how this will be achieved.
