Food Technology at St John’s Catholic Primary School
The opportunities to work with food are varied at St John’s Catholic Primary School in Lancashire. Involvement with Active Kids Get Cooking is seen as an opportunity to make food-related work exciting and relevant. The curriculum regularly includes tasting new foods and the preparation of different ingredients to build children’s food knowledge and practical skills.
Because food is highly valued at the school, a focus on healthy eating is included in literacy, numeracy, science, design and technology, PHSE in both Key Stage 1 and 2 and the foundation stage curriculum.
Active Kids Get Cooking gives children the opportunity to fulfil the requirement that food technology is included in the primary curriculum. It also provides a greater purpose and opportunities for assessment, as well as sharing work at home and at school.
There was nothing ordinary at St John’s when children from Key Stage 1 spent a morning preparing Japanese food. Sushi, with different vegetable and rice fillings and noodles, was made to share with the whole school. The idea was inspired by the headteacher’s visit to schools in Japan. Each year the school aims to have a different multicultural event – this year it is Eid. Everyone enjoyed it and the overall evaluation was a big thumbs up!
The Year of Food and Farming got off to a great start early last summer at St John’s Catholic Primary School in Poulton-Le-Fylde, Lancashire. Children and their teachers were involved in growing a whole variety of vegetables in the school vegetable plot. The vegetables were then taken into school where they were made into different dishes for the children to taste. School dinners were supplemented by the home grown, home made salads that children were able to choose to eat with their school dinner.
Active Kids Get Cooking October 2009