Hospitality & Home Cooking Skills

Intent

Hospitality:

My vision for the Hospitality department is to give students the basic cooking and food preparation skills that they will use in a working environment and at home. In addition, we also develop the core subjects of Maths, Science, English and Geography during the preparation and cooking of different food commodities. 

The hospitality industry is so wide and diverse with many career opportunities for students looking for employment or to continue with their training at college or university. My goal is for learners to develop the knowledge and skills needed in a working kitchen and living independently including basic health and safety skills. 

These skills include:

• Food preparation - Chopping and knife skills

• Different types of cooking  

• Potential allergies

• Healthy balanced meals

• Food sustainability

• Customer service skills including serving customers

In addition, the kitchen environment at Beckmead College allows our students to operate in a working kitchen, preparing lunch for two schools. This gives them a better understanding of what will be expected of them when they are in full-time employment.

Qualifications that are taught:

City and Guilds Level 1 Introduction to the Hospitality Industry
Diploma / Award / Certificate

City & Guilds Entry Level 3 Introduction to the Hospitality Industry
Diploma / Award / Certificate

Home Cooking Skills: 

In the Home cooking skills department our aim is to equip the students with the knowledge, skills and confidence to enjoy cooking at home. The students will gain an understanding of how to economise when planning meals to cook at home.

This unit will allow students to transfer the skills learnt to other recipes to continue to cook for themselves, friends and family. The Home Cooking Skills units are based on the proposition that being able to cook is an essential life skill which we hope will empower the students to make changes that will have benefits to their health and wellbeing.

At the end of this course the students will gain a BTEC Home Cooking Skills Level 1 qualification. Also with the Home Cooking Skills, this will give the students some idea if they would like to continue in the catering industry, and maybe make a transition to KS5 to continue in gaining a higher level of qualification in the hospitality industry.

Objective of the Qualification

Develop knowledge and understanding of how to cook meals at home

In this unit the students will be introduced to basic cooking skills by following recipes for simple dishes

• The students will develop a wide range of practical skills and apply independently

• The students over time will confidently use kitchen basic( food cupboard basic and equipment

• The students will experiment with a variety of kitchen appliances, hand stick, stick blender, hand held mixer, free standing mixer and deep fryer .

• The students will learn knife skills,  how to use sharp knives safely and correctly 

• The students will learn about organising, preparing, weighting ingredients

Develop understanding of how to economize when planning a meal

• The students will learn about the importance of food choices for a healthy diet. Buying the correct food which is still nutritional but also value for money

• The students will learn about food storage, how to store food correctly in the fridge, and cupboard management

• The students will learn about nutrition, the Eatwell well guide; and the  five a day

• The students will learn about food labeling; use by date, best before date and the color coding

Develop ability to transfer skills learned to different recipes

• The students will learn how to follow recipes independently

• The students will gain understanding about adapting recipes to meet the needs of others, and also their own preferences

• Watching the teacher demonstrate and applying skills as independently as possible during the practical lesson

Developing an ability to inspire others by transferring the knowledge gained and Passing on information about the home cooking

• The students will be encouraged to pass on information and inspire others to cook or bake the recipe they have tried out.

• The students will learn how to share information about the recipes, by using different forms of communication. E.g. written, email, cook with family members

Qualifications that are taught:

BTEC Home cooking skill level 1 Award

BTEC Home cooking skills Level 2 Award