Giggleswick School

Work is very much based on diet and health. Looking at current dietary trends and how these are impacting our general health and well being. Pupils are encouraged to see the dangers of eating an unbalanced diet, and how this could be avoided. We therefore focus very much on what the current dietary guidelines are, and how these could be best put into practice, especially ways in which healthy foods can be made more appealing to children. Much of this is done through practical work, and the development of knowledge based on experience with food. Pupils are encouraged to taste and eat the food they make, not that this is ever a problem, as one of the best ways to encourage children to eat good food is to get them involved in the whole selection, and cooking process.
In conjunction with how their food meets with healthy dietary guidelines, pupils are also taught the nutritional value of the food they make.

This course forms a very good basis for GSCE Home Economics, offered as an option in years 10 and 11. The GCSE course is very much a food and nutrition course, which covers, in more detail, all of the work done in the previous three years, as well as many other related topics, eg, food safety, energy from food, planning healthy diets, food choice, food processing as well as the role of the consumer. All of which are a preparation for the things young people have to deal with every day of their lives, hopefully enabling them to make clearer more informed choices about things that will really affect them.