Food Technology is taught from Year 3 to Year 9. Food Preparation and Nutrition is an option subject at GCSE and is taught in years 10 and 11. The Junior School has a food room as part of the Design Technology facilities and in the Senior School there is a large well-equipped food room.

FT in the Junior School

At Key Stage 3 (Years 3 to 9), there is an emphasis on teaching food preparation skills and how to make healthy eating choices. The emphasis is on gaining strong preparation skills whilst working with a good degree of independence in practical sessions. Other areas such as food choice, food provenance and the science of cooking food are studied in order to introduce some of the subject areas that pupils will study should they choose the course as one of their GCSE options. Our aim is to foster an enjoyment of creating mainly savoury dishes so that pupils can feed themselves and their families going forward.

The department is committed to encouraging cooking from scratch with less reliance on convenience foods.

Senior School Food Technology

At Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11), we follow the WJEC Eduqas GCSE in Food Preparation and Nutrition. The course is divided into a number of key areas, which are taught in both practical and theory lessons. In year 11, two Non Examined Assessments are completed; the Food Science task is worth 15% of the final GCSE mark and the Food Preparation task is worth 35% of the final mark. The second NEA includes a 3 hour final practical examination, when 3 dishes are prepared and served. The briefs for NEA1 are issued in September each year and for NEA2 in November each year. There is a final written examination lasting 1 hour 45 minutes, which is worth 50% of the final mark. 

There is an annual House Chef competition, with pupils competing for House points. In Friday afternoon enrichment sessions, there is cooking for senior citizens’ socials and The Meeting room, which caters for the more vulnerable in the local area. In addition, the Lower Sixth cook for half a term to help prepare them for University.