Using our cooking and nutrition resources in the secondary classroom

We've worked with the British Nutrition Foundation to create cooking and nutrition lessons for Years 7 to 9. The aim of our secondary curriculum is to develop pupil understanding and application of healthier and more sustainable diets, and equip them with practical food skills; enriching their knowledge and skills for their and others' wellbeing now and in the future. We’ve mapped everything to the national curriculum, as well as the government’s core food competencies for children and young people, and have threads running throughout our curriculum so you can easily find lessons, but also see how learning progresses through the key stages.

By the end of this academic year, you’ll find 36 brilliant lessons, which progress through key stage 3, focusing on food preparation and cooking, healthy eating, where food comes from, and making informed choices. Lessons include slide decks, worksheets, quizzes, recipes and additional information for teachers. There will be lots of lessons to choose from, and of course, we hope you use them all, but understand that you might want to dip-in and use a few to suit the needs of your school.

The majority of lessons focus on preparing, cooking and tasting food, making a range of dishes from around the world, enriching learning through diversity, and giving pupils new experiences. Through these lessons, other learning is embedded, such as sustainability, food hygiene, food science, and food culture and customs.

In line with the national curriculum, pupils make a range of predominantly savoury dishes, making just one sweet dish per year group. We’ve selected recipes that encourage plant rich diets, with 90% of recipes containing fruit and vegetables. Plus, there’s a range of options within recipes, ensuring that they are better suited for pupils and foster their creativity.

All practical lessons are in a similar format, helping pupils know what is expected of them in these types of learning situations, such as getting ready to cook, being hygienic, and getting ingredients and equipment ready. We’ve also ensured that recipes are in a consistent format, highlighting key aspects of making, as well as the food skills demonstrated. Modifications to recipes have been suggested, to support pupils who might have an allergy or do not eat specific foods due to belief or ethical reasons, as well as considering budgets in schools.

You may teach more than 12 lessons to your Year 7 - 9 pupils, but the flexibility of the Oak curriculum materials means that you can use what you want to support your learning plans. Some lessons you might want to split, so that you focus in more depth on specific content (such as nutrition and/or sustainability), while others you might include additional cooking experiences to help further develop food skills, motivate pupils, and/or practically demonstrate key learning points, such as food science. You may also want to review some of the 72 lessons in key stages 1 - 2, using slide decks, recipes or quizzes to further enrich your curriculum, support adaptive teaching, and better support your pupils.

Food is fundamental for life and an important part of our culture. It is a source of nourishment, connection and joy. We hope that by using these curriculum materials pupils will be inspired, by making informed choices and their practical food skills, to have lifelong healthy and sustainable diets.