Cooking & Nutrition
Cooking and Nutrition
Aim
The Cooking and Nutrition curriculum aims to teach children how to cook a range of balanced meals and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Our curriculum recognises that cooking is an important life skill that will help children to feed themselves and others nutritious and affordable food, now and in the future, potentially reversing the growth of diet-related illnesses. Each year group cooks four dishes throughout the year which covers specific knowledge related to healthy diets and food sources (including seasonality) alongside the opportunity to practise and develop a range of cooking skills and techniques. This information can be found on our whole school coverage documents, skills breakdowns, medium term plans and half-termly newsletters to parents.
Implementation
Following the whole school overview, skills breakdown document and medium term plans, teachers provide a range of activities in order to develop pupils’ knowledge of healthy diets, food sources and seasonality. These documents have been based on the guidance document ‘Food teaching in primary schools: a framework of knowledge and skills’ (PHE, 2015). Preparing and cooking four dishes a year allows pupils to apply this knowledge while developing a range of cooking skills and techniques. They are also given the opportunity to design and make their own dishes. Pupils regularly practise their skills and revisit knowledge. Throughout these units of work, teachers regularly check pupils' understanding and their development of skills in order to provide clear and direct feedback to pupils. This allows children to make progress and achieve the intended outcomes of the national curriculum.
Impact
All children have the opportunity to develop their skills by cooking a number of savoury dishes. Children understand seasonality and affordability and the importance of selecting foods and dishes wisely. They recognise the components of a healthy diet and know how to plan and create a balanced meal. They gain knowledge in cooking and nutrition as they move through school, in line with agreed curriculum plans
Below you can find the whole school overview for the cooking and nutrition coverage per year group and the medium term plans for each unit.
To find further information relating to learning in individual year groups, please use the year group tabs on the website homepage.
