Developing students’ functional skills to successfully access further learning
In Vocational Cooking we develop functional skills to access further learning by:
Maths: cooking at Altus requires precise measuring weighing, direct proportion, temperature, converting units, dividing into appropriate serving sizes. In nutrition we explore the proportion of serving size and nutritional needs/value according to age range and lifestyle. We also calculate the school budget for menus – including costings of ingredients, overheads such as energy, time, equipment and labour considerations as would happen in the accounting of small businesses. We work with complex timings such as dovetailing (cooking elements to be presented at the same time.) Time management is a key skill to cooking, so numeracy and telling the time is also a focus in our kitchens.
English: cooking at Altus requires literacy skills including reading complex recipes and interpreting language of dishes, sometimes with international ingredients and new words. Students use literacy skills to plan a production, sequencing, commodity lists with quantities, preparing and following cooking techniques from written sources including WJEC, cookbooks and online recipes. Students use literacy to review dishes applying specific vocabulary such as dish production using terms such as ‘organoleptic’. They also use technical language such as aeration and laminating and baine-marie.
Students review their own performance in written form, identifying strengths and weaknesses of their process such as decision making, organisation and final taste which requires expressive and creative language relating to senses, textures and visual impact. We encourage students to talk, think and write creatively about their food and tasting.
Providing a wide range of opportunities to broaden students’ curiosity, strengths and resilience
In Vocational cooking we focus on trips to local providers including Gloucester Services and Farm Shop, TA Barracks, Holiday Inn, Cheltenham Racecourse and Five Valleys Food Hall which encourages students to explore job opportunities within the industry and meet local employers. In specific modules we explore how to access jobs and the training pathways they might take after Year 11. We go on trips to careers fairs and local colleges who provide Hospitality and Catering opportunities in forms of apprenticeship or full-time courses.
We encourage curiosity, and have flexibility within our curriculum for the students to bring new ideas to us. For example, they might emulate social media trends such as Dubai chocolate recipes or new street food ideas from around the world which they are inspired by. We work hard as a department to embrace the fast-moving innovation and ideas about food which social media creates and the students find. We love to learn along with them!
Empowering students with the knowledge and skills to lead productive, healthy and safe futures
Vocational Food teaches life skills such as budgeting, menu planning, nutrition for all ages, feeding family in the future. We embed core skills such as learning and understanding the control measures to prevent food induced ill health. As a basic requirement we teach health and safety, hygiene and safe knife skills to every student who comes through an Altus kitchens. Resilience is built through perseverance. Often students find a new food or a new recipe daunting, but we encourage a growth mindset in the Altus kitchens. A fail is never a fail – it is a learning opportunity, and we often repeat dishes so the students can keep trying and experimenting, until they get a sense of achievement. Perseverance is a core attribute of good chefs.
We encourage students to take their food and learning home, for example how they store their food, money saving tips such as deboning and filleting a whole chicken to make several meals, the issues around Ultra Processed food and how to make alternatives, how to create ‘fakeaways’ for cheaper and healthier alternatives to fast food are just some examples.
Students explore societal issues throughout their time with us, including Ultra Processed vs home cooked, food poverty, labelling of foods and how food is regulated, and environmental issues around food production. We equip the students with knowledge about their wider world through food, in every lesson. We respect and embed cultural diversity, using recipes and ingredients from our staff and student heritage.
Options Hospitality and Catering (WJEC Level 1 / 2 Vocational Technical Award)
The students gain a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the hospitality and catering industry including provision, health and safety and food safety. Our practical lessons enable our learners to develop and apply knowledge and understanding of the importance of nutrition, and how to plan nutritious menus. They learn the skills needed to prepare, cook and present their dishes. They also learn how to review their work effectively. This two year linear course culminates in a 12 hour cooking exam (60%) and 1 hour 20 mins written paper (40%).
Pathways Hospitality and Catering
During a two-year cycle students will experience a range of modules which are varied and relevant. Gateway provides learners with a broad introduction to the hospitality and catering sector, equipping learners with underpinning knowledge and skills specific to the sector. Students learn a range of transferrable employability skills such as food hygiene and safety, customer service, food preparation and cooking, menu planning for various customers and nutritional / dietary needs, using and maintaining specialist kitchen equipment in our well-equipped Altus kitchens. This modular course can suit students who are with us for a short time between mainstream settings, or those who stay for the two years can gain an Award or Certificate recognised nationally.