Cooking & Nutrition
Cooking and Nutrition Overview
Intent
The intent of our Cooking and Nutrition curriculum is to equip learners with essential life skills, promote healthy eating habits, and foster a positive relationship with food, while also supporting their overall development.
All learners will experience and engage in multisensory learning that includes elements of functional skills through their education. Our curriculum ensures that all learners are supported to reach their full potential through practical food experiences and opportunities.
Learners’ practical food skills will develop over time, with the intention of these being used more precisely and accurately as their educational journey continues. In addition, it is envisaged that learners will develop confidence and work with greater independence. For those learners who require additional support, alternatives and adaptations are provided where appropriate.
Our Cooking and Nutrition curriculum aims for learners to acquire, develop and secure a range of practical food skills and use a range of cooking methods so they can help prepare, cook and serve a variety of drinks, meals, dishes and snacks hygienically and safely.
Our broad, balanced and ambitious Cooking and Nutrition curriculum underpins our three core values of ‘Achievement, Equality, and Independence’.
Implementation
Cooking and Nutrition at Hope School and College is delivered in a creative, stimulating way whilst also being functional, supporting learners to be as independent as possible in everyday life.
Our Cooking and Nutrition curriculum utilises Birth to 5 Matters, The Engagement Curriculum and the National Curriculum.
Our curriculum takes account of current educational thinking, best practice, national policies, and statutory requirements. These frameworks devise our objectives for all learners across our bespoke pathways.
The implementation of our Cooking and Nutrition curriculum takes a holistic approach and focuses on each learner’s unique starting point, abilities, and potential. The curriculum is organised to consolidate prior knowledge, skill and understanding and to build upon what the learner already knows and can already achieve.
Cooking and nutrition at Hope School also promotes positive social interactions by introducing challenges, fostering teamwork, boosting self-confidence, and improving communication skills amongst learners and staff. Opportunities are utilized to encourage healthier, collaborative habits that strengthen understanding around food and its importance in relation to lifelong learning.
Our Cooking and Nutrition curriculum expands learning experiences by giving learners opportunities to explore and use ingredients that are initially familiar to them but then extend over time to broaden their learning experiences through handling, cooking and tasting a variety of ingredients.
Impact
The impact of our Cooking and Nutrition curriculum is that learners will have achieved their full potential in all aspects of the subject. Learners will be as independent and functional as they can be with the skills, knowledge and understanding they can utilise in life beyond Hope School and College.
Rationale
The aim of our Cooking and Nutrition curriculum is for our learners to have a healthy relationship with food. To develop understanding of the main food groups and where our food comes from. To develop skills and understanding in all aspects of the subject including planning and preparation, equipment, producing a range of meals and snacks and knowledge of food hygiene and health and safety.
Our cooking and nutrition curriculum embeds the learning of functional skills such as reading, following instructions, making choices, weighing, and measuring, shopping, and budgeting.
Cooking and Nutrition plays a big part of our everyday life at Hope School and College as the learners are encouraged to participate in different aspects of cooking and nutrition including:
• explore a range of foods and flavours as part of sensory exploration, sensory stories and topic-based activities,
• preparing food for themselves and for others at snack time and lunch times,
• preparing food and drink items for customers at the café,
• preparing and serving food at public events such as fayres, assemblies, celebrations,
• participating in shopping trips for snack and cooking items,
• budget and shop as part of independent living skills,
• choosing and ordering food in the community.
• participate in online shopping orders, including receiving deliveries and storing food correctly and appropriately according to food hygiene standards.
• opportunities to participate in food hygiene training
• opportunities to work towards cooking and nutrition related accreditations.
Cooking and Nutrition at Hope School and College
Within all the pathways at Hope school and college; tolerance of food (visually/olfactory/malleably) and ingredients will be the first step in any food and nutrition sessions.
Cooking and Nutrition in our Complex Learning Pathway
Learners in the complex learning pathway will access aspects of a cooking and nutrition curriculum through sensory activities and continuous provision. The sessions will include elements of the Engagement curriculum. These elements can include:
- To tolerate food
- To interact with food
- To smell food
- To touch food
- To taste food, where appropriate
- To eat food, where appropriate
Within this pathway, learning may look like:
Cooking and Nutrition in our Early Steps Pathway
Learners within Early Years and Key Stage 1 will follow the Birth to 5 Matters curriculum. The may experience Cooking and Nutrition the following areas:
- Play & continuous provision
- Adult led activities
- Communication
- Knowledge and Understanding the World
- Physical development
- Personal, Social, and Emotional Development
- Maths
Cooking and Nutrition assessment within this pathway is subject specific and is assessed using the Early Steps Mathematics B-Squared assessment tool.
Within this pathway, learning may look like:
Cooking and Nutrition in our Pre-Formal Pathway
Learners within this pathway are introduced to Cooking and Nutrition through the Engagement Curriculum. The learners will explore Cooking and Nutrition through a multisensory approach which is embedded as part of their holistic experience of education at Hope School and College. Exposure includes:
- Being in the kitchen – helping to locate equipment and ingredients
- Cooking skills – help to weigh/measure ingredients, participate in grating, peeling, sifting, beating, mashing, rolling, cutting, spreading, melting.
- Knowledge and understanding – beginning to understand food groups through exploration and play.
Cooking and Nutrition assessment within this pathway is non-subject specific and is assessed using the Engagement Steps B Squared Assessment Tool.
Within this pathway, learning may look like:
Cooking and Nutrition in our Semi-Formal Pathway
Learners within this pathway build upon the foundations of learning on which the pre-formal curriculum pathways are based. The learners will participate in sessions which are delivered through a variety of whole class, small group and 1:1 activities. These activities may include:
- Being in the kitchen – begin to demonstrate awareness of where equipment and ingredients should be found in a kitchen. Begin to demonstrate awareness of good personal hygiene routines.
- Cooking skills – weighing with increased accuracy, participate in blitzing, crushing, cutting, chopping, slicing, creaming, folding, kneading, frying, piping.
- Knowledge and understanding – principles of a healthy and varied diet, prepare and cook a variety of savoury dishes, use a range of cooking techniques, know what food and water is needed for life, and demonstrate understanding of where a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.
- First aid in the kitchen and food hygiene.
Cooking and Nutrition assessment within this pathway is subject specific and is assessed using Engagement Steps, Progression Steps and Steps 4 Life B Squared Assessment Tool.
Within this pathway, learning may look like:
Cooking and Nutrition in our Formal Pathway
Learners within this pathway build upon the learning on which the semi-formal curriculum pathways are based. The pathway utilises the National Curriculum and provides exposure greater range of concepts. Sessions are delivered through a variety of whole class, small group and 1:1 activities. These activities may include:
- Being in the kitchen – be able to identify where ingredients and equipment should be found in a kitchen, participate in preparing the kitchen for cooking, demonstrate understanding of personal hygiene routines before cooking including washing hands, tying up long hair and wearing an apron. Be able to wash up, dry and put away equipment.
- Cooking skills – weigh/measure with increased accuracy, participate in using a range of cooking techniques with increased independence and demonstrating creative, technical and practical expertise, to use heat sources with care.
- Knowledge and understanding – demonstrate understanding of the principles of nutrition and health, cook a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes, feed themselves and others a healthy and varied diet, become competent in a range of cooking techniques, understand the source, seasonality and characteristics of a broad range of ingredients.
- First aid – explore and understand fire safety in the kitchen, understand how to treat cuts and burns in the kitchen.
Cooking and Nutrition assessment within this pathway is subject specific and is assessed using Progression Steps and Steps 4 Life B Squared Assessment Tool.
Learners in KS4 and KS5 may also have opportunities to work towards Cooking and Nutrition related qualifications such as Food Hygiene Level 1, Basic First Aid training, and ASDAN and Open Awards accreditation’s.
Within this pathway, learning may look like: