In Design and Technology (Food Technology) at Rooks Heath School, we want all our students to experience a broad and balanced range of Design and Technology subjects, in line with the national requirements. Our curriculum encompasses a range of theoretical and practical activities, linked to key subject terminology. It is structured to allow our students to form, build and apply a range of skills covering practical cooking skills, and the theory of nutrition and healthy eating. The curriculum is designed to be inclusive, and accommodate learners with varied prior experiences and attainment, as our students come from a large range of backgrounds, many of which are disadvantaged, or have English as an additional language. This is also a key link to our school ethos: ‘Strive to be your best”. Our culturally inclusive curriculum gives students the opportunity to research and showcase recipes from a diverse range of cultures and cook dishes from a variety of these.

Careers focus areas are identified by the following label: *Careers*

Lessons with a direct link to social, moral, spiritual or cultural teaching are identified by the following label: *SMSC*

In Key Stage 3 we focus on introducing our students to a range of techniques, knowledge and practical skills. This helps give them a clear understanding of what the subject includes, ranging from recipes and cooking methods to nutritional theory. Students experience an hour of Food Technology per week. In this time frame, we cover approximately 10 different recipes practical lessons, key core knowledge concepts, food tasting linked to careers in the industry, and a food science experiment. Our curriculum enables students to build upon their practical skills in a safe and structured way, enabling them to achieve high quality results. We build key subject skills and knowledge in Key Stage 3, including Year 9, where students opt for Food or DT, to help our students achieve success as they progress to Key Stage 4 and higher. These topics include knife skills, combining ingredients, adapting recipes, nutrient functions and healthy eating. Doing this creates greater future opportunities for our students to study our Food Preparation and Nutrition GCSE course.