Food & Nutrition

GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition (OCR)
This course will be of particular interest to those who are interested in the hospitality and catering industry.

What will I learn? All content is covered in all components. There are four sections to the course..

Section A: Nutrition. This covers topic areas such as the relationship between diet and health; nutritional and dietary needs of different groups of people; energy balance; nutritional content of the main commodity groups

Section B: Food (food provenance and food choice). Areas of study would investigate food provenance: source and supply; food processing and production; technological developments to support better health and food production, for instance.

Section C: Cooking and food preparation. Learners would investigate food science; sensory properties and food safety.

Section D: Skills requirements (preparation and cooking techniques). A key component of the overall experience, learners will develop a range of culinary skills including knife skills; preparation and techniques; cooking methods; sauces; as well as learning how to judge and manipulate sensory properties.

How will I learn? You will have a mixture of practical and theoretical lessons. You will cover the theory of food and nutrition as stated above and practically you will learn about how to cook and prepare different meals.

How will I be assessed and achieve my GCSE grade?
50% of the course is assessed through one theory paper.
15% of the course is through a coursework based food investigation task.
35% of the course is assessed through practical preparation of food.
 

Where might it lead?
There are a huge variety of jobs within the catering and hospitality industry that this course could lead to.
A list of potential future careers: Chef/cook, nutritionist, personal trainer, catering manager, hospitality manager. Equally it is an excellent life skill and one you will always need!

BTEC Level 1&2 Home Cooking Skills

The BTEC Level 1 and Level 2 Awards in Home Cooking Skills are suitable for learners to develop:

• knowledge, understanding and confidence to cook meals at home

• an understanding of how to economise when planning a meal

• an ability to transfer skills learned to different recipes

• an ability to inspire others by transferring that knowledge.

The course runs over three terms in Year 12, and aims to provide a springboard into studying Level 3 qualifications or applying for Apprenticeships, as well as the acquisition of essential life skills.

There are specific prior learning requiremnts, although an interest in cooking is desirable.