Food Technology

Practical cookery and food education is now compulsory in the new national curriculum for pupils in Primary schools.

Here at Lapage we were revolutionary in introducing Cooking lessons to out children at school in 2012 before Cooking was made compulsory.
We believe instilling a love of cooking in pupils is essential and develops a pupil’s creativity. Learning how to cook is a crucial life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life.
Children enjoy participating in cooking. Lessons are practical based and aimed at developing children’s practical cooking skills, fine motor skills and confidence using small tools.
We employ an ‘all hands on deck’ approach, where all children participate in a recipe. Children are given an instruction card to follow as part of a recipe.
Children across whole school have the opportunity to do Cooking lessons. Every class of 30 children has access to weekly cooking lessons all year.
Each year group has a different theme/topic each half term for what we are going to make and the skills the children in reception are also learning simple cooking skills with their teachers.
Children are taught about safety and hygiene in the food room to ensure we all work safely and hygienically.

Linking Learning

Where possibly we try to link in special events in the calendar year – e.g. Easter/Christmas/Halloween, making cooking fun for the children.
Cooking also links to other areas of the curriculum. Where possible cross-curricular links are made – for example last half term Year 2’s were learning about Castles. In our cooking lessons we made castle shaped biscuits.
Literacy is incorporated into lessons by the use of imperative verbs or ‘Bossy words’. In KS1 we learn the bossy words and act out the actions before a recipe. Older children also have the opportunity to record recipes and instructions in their own recipe books which can be taken home for children to make again.
Maths is incorporated through weighing and measuring, which children are taught from Year 3.
PCHSE is also an important aspect of our lessons. Children learn to work together as a team, take turns and eat sociably together.

At Lapage we follow the National Curriculum

In KS1 pupils should be taught:

At Key Stage 2 pupils should be taught:

To understand and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet
To prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques
To understand seasonality, and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed