Applebee Wood Community Specialist School 

Cooking, Healthy Choices and Life Skills

Intent.

At Applebee Wood School, Cooking, Healthy Choices and Life Skills is taught to suit the abilities of pupils at a variety of levels.  We aim to stimulate creativity, imagination and a love of Cooking and Healthy Choices, by providing a wide range of opportunities and experiences, starting with the youngest pupils in school looking at, feeling, smelling and tasting a range of ingredients, building up to the oldest pupils planning, preparing and cooking  a 2-course meal for a member of staff.  Our pupils are encouraged to explore their ideas and feelings, by altering recipes to suit their tastes and expressing their opinion on the food they have made.

Implementation

Cooking, Healthy Choices and Life Skills is an ideal platform for sensory learning and developing fine motor skills.  Pupils can experiment with expressing themselves in a variety of ways and explore ingredients, equipment and techniques.  We strive to provide a sense of achievement at the end of each lesson, boosting pupil’s confidence and feeling of self-belief.  The key stage 3 and 4 pupils have a Cooking and Life Skills lesson every week (single lesson in key stage 3 and double lesson in key stage 4). The primary pupils also have a form of Cooking, Healthy Choices and Life Skills lesson on their timetable. This connects to their topic/theme. The senior pupils have the opportunity to attend an after-school cooking club. Healthy choices are integrated into every cooking lesson.

Impact

The confidence, self-belief and fine motor skills, along with cross-curriculum links, are dispersed throughout pupil’s experiences in other subjects and their daily lives.  An opportunity to express themselves in a non-verbal way is invaluable to many of our pupils.  Their growth through the subject of Cooking, Healthy Choices and Life Skills can be a delight to observe during their school life. Several of our pupils choose to pursue catering as a college course when they leave us.

At Applebee Wood, all key stage 3 pupils have a single cooking and life skills lesson each week. In key stage 4, all pupils have a double cooking and life skills lesson each week.