1. Food in the National Curriculum
Frances Meek
Alex White
British Nutrition Foundation

2. Food is compulsory!
Resources to support your knowledge of the primary curriculum:
Progression chart year 1 – year 6 -
Design and Technology Progression Framework – Key Stages
Annotated D&T Programme of Study -
Food teaching in primary schools online course available.

3. Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4
Key Stage 3 National Curriculum and GCSE specifications

4. Technical Awards
These are currently the most popular food Technical Awards.
There is also a level 3 Food Science and Nutrition qualification
There is also a BTEC Home Cooking Skills course which is very popular with Special Needs schools

5. Design and Technology: Cooking and nutrition
Key stage 1
Pupils should be taught to:
Key stage 2
Key stage 3
use the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes.
understand and apply the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet.
understand and apply the principles of nutrition and health.
prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques.
cook a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes so that they are able to feed themselves and others a healthy and varied diet.
become competent in a range of cooking techniques
understand where food comes from.
understand seasonality, and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.
understand the source, seasonality and characteristics of a broad range of ingredients.

6. Progression Students should: be more skilful than when they started
Know and understand more (know that, know how);
be able to see new goals, see things they can intervene and do;
develop personal autonomy, manage themselves and resources;
be capable - bring this knowledge to bear in a purposeful manner, apply knowledge and skills when designing and making.

7. BNF schemes of work and support for KS4
Updated Schemes of Work to support planning for KS3 cooking and nutrition are available from the food a fact of life website:
Planning sheets to help with writing schemes of work for the Food Preparation and Nutrition GCSE are also available from the food a fact of life website:

8. Core Competences
Food competences set out a progressive framework to help children and young people develop the skills and knowledge to make and implement healthy food and activity choices.
There are five themes:
diet and health;
consumer awareness;
cooking;
food safety;
active lifestyles.
The competences can be used as an audit tool to help plan lessons; to support curriculum and qualification development, and as a guide when developing resources.

9. KS3 KS4 Progression through skills
CONSIDER:
Number of lessons?
Size of group v facilities available?
Lesson length?
What you feel confident with?
Plan a student’s whole practical experience in Food through key stage 3 to key stage 4.
It is important to create a sound base to build upon.
Develop skills in a logical order to embed knowledge, understanding, experience and give students self-confidence.

10. Progression through skills
Make practical dishes you are comfortable with, that will ensure you deliver the Key Stage 3 criteria and challenge your students to:
apply the principles of nutrition and health;
cook a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes, so they can feed themselves and others a healthy and varied diet;
become competent in a range of cooking techniques;
able to select and prepare a range of ingredients;
use a range of utensils and electrical equipment;
applying heat in different ways.

11. Progression through skills
Challenge your students to (continued):
use awareness of taste, texture and smell to decide how to season dishes and combine ingredients.
Ability to adapt and use own recipes.
Understand the source, seasonality and characteristics of a broad range of ingredients.

12. Progression through skills
Students should also understand:
the sourcing of ingredients (where food comes from);
culinary traditions associated with food from different cultures;
how ingredients work in recipes.

13. Progression in knowledge
Classroom strategies include:
mini plenaries;
peer to peer demonstrations;
‘leader’ demonstrations with feedback from the rest of the group;
knowledge triangles;
give me 5;
question pots – example in pack;
circle maps;
C3B4UCME.

14. Use a Thinking Sandwich
Step 1
Get ready
Take time to:
Pause and clear your mind
Remember what you did last time
Imagine what you will do this time
This is a mental management strategy.
Stop and think before you start!
And now do the task
After the task …..
Step 2
Make connections:
To other things you know about
To other things you do
To other things you are studying
Step 3
Ask yourself:
What went well?
What was hard?
What can be improved?

15. Progression in independence
Record recipe or skill demonstrations and post these on YouTube or your school network.
Ask students to watch these for homework and produce a time plan for the lesson.
A variety of skills videos can be found on the food a fact of life website and the recipe section of

16. Progression in independence
Silent demos!
Pupils are required to concentrate and make notes during the demonstration leading to further independence.

17. Progression of language skills and vocabulary
The best learning is achieved not through a test but through an active task. It is best to introduce terminology at the time it is in use in the topic, so that pupils see how it is used in context.
Laminate a set of key word cards and definition cards for matching activities. Read aloud the definitions and ask teams to provide the term.
Delete subject-specific terminology from a passage and ask pupils to write in the correct term.

18. Progression of language skills and vocabulary
Display terms and definitions on the wall
Set a crossword puzzle in which the words are terms and the clues are definitions
Set a ‘key terms’ word search in which the definition rather than the word is given as a clue
Ask groups to devise A3 posters that illustrate the terms
Set homework tasks to produce any of the above

19. Progression of numeracy skills and vocabulary
Food lessons enable teachers to incorporate numeracy skills into meaningful contexts, for example measuring, weighing, ratios, to help reinforce learning in different curriculum areas. Progression can be demonstrated through:
measuring, ratios and proportions;
estimating;
mathematical modelling;
calculating;
data handling;
use of graphs and charts;
working accurately and precisely;
dealing with tolerances.

20. Evidencing progression
Licence to Cook observation sheet.
Food a Fact of Life Learning Journey booklets, Cooking and Nutrition years 7, 8 and 9 (now updated).
Regular skill or knowledge diary.
Self or peer assessment – based on L2C observation sheet and Core competences.
Use of ‘team leader’ or ‘food inspector’ roles during paired or group work.
Before and after post-it notes (stick on the board or in their books).
Flipped lessons.

21. Successful recipe selection
How do you decide on what your students will make?
Skills?
Knowledge?
Progression?
Because you or they like the recipe?
Learning objectives should be linked practical outcomes.
Do your recipes support knowledge, skill development and progression AND reflect the key nutrition messages?

22. Successful recipe selection
Some of your students may never have used a cooker or sharp knife before year 7.
Others may be accomplished cooks.
Choose recipes to:
match the criteria or context;
give them skills for life and health;
build on their confidence;
and develop a LOVE OF COOKING
Not all students will go on to study Food at Key Stage 4 but …how well prepared will those be that do?

23. Successful recipe selection
Practical KS4 to include:
knife skills;
preparing fruits & vegetables;
use of the cooker (hob, oven, grill);
different cooking methods (dry / moist);
prepare, combine & shape;
sauce making;
tenderise and marinate;
making and handling a dough;
using raising agents;
setting mixtures.
Build upon:
Previous experience
Skills learned
Student preferences

24. Support and resources

25. Meat and Education
The website provides a range of teaching resources, suitable for pupils aged 11 to 18, including:
Support area for the Food preparation and nutrition GCSE and specification grids with links:
Six red meat practical skills videos linked to the new GCSE
Lesson ideas, with curriculum links including the 50 Minute lesson packs
Recipes
Interactive resources including Sausage Creator and Gourmet Burger Builder
Posters and photographs
Monthly eNews – sign up online:

26. Gourmet Burger Builder
An interactive resource that challenges students to make the best burger!
Students have a choice of beef or lamb mince and a variety of vegetables, fruit, cheese, spices and herbs along with breads and toppings.
A detailed step-by-step recipe is produced so students can make their burger at school or at home.

27. Support resources: Teacher's guide
Six lesson themes presented as PowerPoint presentations
Structured worksheets that can be used with any theme
Burger ingredient food cards.
Gourmet Burger Builder can be used on a computer, tablet or mobile phone.

28. GCSE skills videos
Six videos for KS4 students that focus on the practical skills required to prepare, cook and serve red meat.  The videos highlight the skills GCSE students need to demonstrate including:
knife skills;
making meat tender;
meat preparation - prepare,
combine and shape;
cooking meat - using the grill;
cooking meat - using the oven;
cooking meat - using the hob.

29. Meaty Eats – recipes to cook at home
A series of six video shorts to encourage teenagers to cook and eat red meat at home.
The videos could also be used by schools as part of life skills education, preparation for university or after school cookery clubs
Tarea of he videos can be found in the recipe also on YouTube 

30. Food route
Food route: a journey through food is a range of colourful age-appropriate resources designed and developed to enable young people to gain food and active lifestyle related skills and knowledge. Based on the Core Competences, the resources cover:
diet and health;
shopping;
cooking;
food safety;
active lifestyles.

31. Explore Food
A free nutritional analysis tool. Teachers notes and student worksheets available too.
Produce front and back of pack labelling
Compare a recipe to DRVs
Calculate a diet
Explore food

32. Chilled Food Association
Innovative and imaginative free teaching
resources to support the D&T and Science curricula, with a special focus on food.
Food Standards Agency
The FSA is an independent government department to protect the public’s health and consumer interests in relation to food.
BBC Learning Zone
Free classroom clips for KS3 & 4 – currently titled Food Technology but up to date.

33. The Cookery Teacher The site is designed to give insights into the wonderful world of making good food.  There are pages to browse sharing Barbara’s life and food travels, hints and tips to support cooking at home and school, links to foodie websites and her live twitter feed.  Grain Chain Get inspired with free, easy to use classroom resources for teachers and give your pupils a head start when it comes to curriculum based learning for food science, food provenance, healthy eating and cooking skills. Cook your own potatoes The site hosts potato information, skills, recipes, videos, and a chance to apply for free printed resources for your classroom.

34. FutureChef programme (Springboard)
Chef demonstrations, awards, learning resources and competitions.
Food Lab
Recipes, techniques, tips and features – useful for food science and GCSE.

35. Openlearn BBC – Ever wondered about food
Steve Spangler
Experiments to make food science fun!
Love Food, Love Science
This website from the IFST, explores the various applications of science in food, from the structure of a sugar crystal to manufacturing. New videos in association with the Food Teachers Centre.
Openlearn BBC – Ever wondered about food
Popular chef Paul Merrett invites you into his kitchen to savour another intriguing mix of science, cookery and fascinating facts. 

36. Food Teachers Centre
Closed Facebook group – support and advice from teaching colleagues
FTC resource bank – all the resources uploaded to the FTC Facebook group organised and in one place!