Practical lessons give pupils a sense of achievement and pride in both their independence and the quality of work produced. The enthusiasm, enjoyment and focus of the students allows positive relationships to be built with both teachers and peers. The quantity of verbal feedback and support in lessons helps achieve this. We are aware of students’ abilities (KNOWN) and use this to customise the feedback and support we give. 

We seek to develop pupils’ respect for the food they eat, the effect of the food they eat on their bodies and the way they feel. We also seek to develop pupils respect for the food choices of others and the reasons for those choices – we do this through class discussion during demonstrations and at the end of practical lessons when there is opportunity for discussion of practical outcomes. 

We intend for pupils to explore and understand why we eat food, how diet is linked to health as well as where food comes from and the ethical implications of their food choices. 

We enable students to question and deepen their understanding of food as a practical material as well as a nutritional product. We teach them the practical skills to allow them to access recipes in both school as well as those they find independently. We help to dispel many common ideas about food and give them the facts they need to make informed choices about their own diets. 

We teach students a wide range of practical skills which can be used to make a selection of recipes both in school and are transferable to allow students to attempt recipes they want to try at home both now and in the future (INSPIRE). As well as practical skills, pupils are taught and practice organisational skills, evaluation skills and research skills which are transferrable to other subjects and to life in general. 

We want our pupils to develop the confidence to work independently in practical lessons to encourage them to cook for themselves for pleasure as well as to feel in control of being able to feed both themselves and others in the future (NURTURED). For some, we hope it may spark or feed the aspiration to work with food or nutrition in the future. For all we aim for students to understand the link between food and health and be inspired to make conscious positive choices both now and in the future. We set high standards and expectations and challenge students to attempt high level skills, so they feel confident to attempt challenges in the future. 

Through our lessons and Scheme of Learning we support pupils to seek out solutions and learn skills of how to deal with recipes not working out how they expected. We encourage our pupils to approach their learning with positivity and curiosity with the idea that we sometimes learn more when things go wrong than when they go right.