Cooking Curriculum Intent

At Combe Pafford School, our pupils are taught cookery skills within Years 7- 9 with the opportunity to continue studying the subject as a KS4 Hospitality and Catering option. Our vision is that all pupils accessing our Life Skills curriculum should be encouraged to develop confidence, knowledge, and independence within a kitchen environment. Close attention is paid to research, planning, evaluating and healthy eating alongside a repetition of practical skills so that our students have the opportunity to commit it to memory and build technique and confidence. Our curriculum also incorporates opportunities for students to effectively communicate through customer service skills and understand linked career opportunities. Our curriculum is well supported with a fully equipped home-style kitchen with space for 12 pupils to cook independently. We also have a working café open to the public to experience real life hospitality and catering.

The curriculum intends:

• Pupils to learn basic cooking skills.
• To become confident in the kitchen with practical skills.
• Understand the risk and rules involved when cooking.
• To understand the importance of kitchen and personal hygiene when cooking.
• To be able to research and plan different meals
• To gain and understanding of the hospitality and catering industry
• To understand that there are different dietary needs.
• To enable pupils to make healthy food choices.
• Taste new and different flavors of food and evaluate a sensory analysis.

Our curriculum delivery:

Cooking lessons are timetabled alongside Life Skills lessons and are taught half-termly. A subject specialist teacher teaches pupils cooking lessons once a week for half a term. Classes then swap to life skills lessons for the second half of term. Cooking life skills lesson are taught in Years 7, 8 and 9. By the end of Year 9, pupils can make option choices to continue to develop cooking skills with the choice of Hospitality and Catering or Independent Living Skills to continue personal development in Years 10 and 11.

Benefits to pupils (Impact):

The offer of cooking at Combe Pafford enhances confidence and independence within our curriculum. Families of pupils accessing cooking at Combe Pafford have been encouraged to cook as a family at home. Our pupils see positive outcomes through accreditation but more than this, the subject encourages our inquisitive, informed and ambitious youngsters to explore the vast opportunities of the cooking world. Pupils feel a sense of accomplishment that will lead to skills for life in the future.