GCSE Food preparation and nutrition₈₅₈₅

1.1 Why choose AQA for GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition

This new GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition is an exciting and creative course which focuses on practical cooking skills to ensure students develop a thorough understanding of nutrition, food provenance and the working characteristics of food materials. At its heart, this qualification focuses on nurturing students' practical cookery skills to give them a strong understanding of nutrition.

Food preparation skills are integrated into five core topics:

• Food, nutrition and health
• Food science
• Food safety
• Food choice
• Food provenance.

Upon completion of this course, students will be qualified to go on to further study, or embark on an apprenticeship or full time career in the catering or food industries.

As part of our commitment to providing excellent support, we’ve created fantastic free teaching resources and can offer great value professional development courses. We’re also collaborating with publishers to ensure you have engaging and easy-to-use textbooks.

You can find out about all our Food Preparation and Nutrition qualifications at aqa.org.uk/food-preparation-and-nutrition

1.2 Support and resources to help you teach

We’ve worked with experienced teachers to provide you with a range of resources that will help you confidently plan, teach and prepare for exams.

Teaching resources

Visit aqa.org.uk/8585 to see all our teaching resources. They include:

• teaching guidance including lesson plans, video resources and suggested teaching strategies to provide you with practical guidance to help deliver this specification
• non-exam assessment exemplar materials and a dedicated subject adviser for every school or college to help you understand our expectations for this part of the assessment
• sample schemes of work to help you plan your course with confidence
• two textbooks tailored to our specification and approved by AQA
• training courses to help you deliver AQA Food preparation and nutrition qualifications
• subject expertise courses for all teachers, from newly qualified teachers who are just getting started to experienced teachers looking for fresh inspiration.

Preparing for exams

Visit aqa.org.uk/8585 for everything you need to prepare for our exams, including:

• past papers, mark schemes and examiners’ reports
• specimen papers and mark schemes for new courses
• exemplar student answers with examiner commentaries.

Analyse your students' results with Data Insights

We've replaced Enhanced Results Analysis (ERA) with a new platform – Data Insights. It does the same things as ERA – and more.

Find out which questions were the most challenging, how the results compare to previous years and where your students need to improve. Data Insights, our free online results analysis tool, will help you see where to focus your teaching. Find out more at aqa.org.uk/data-insights

For information about results, including maintaining standards over time, grade boundaries and our post-results services, visit aqa.org.uk/results

Keep your skills up-to-date with professional development

Time in the classroom is precious, but we understand that as your career develops, the skills and knowledge you need may change. As well as subject-specific training, we offer a range of courses to help boost your skills.

• Feedback sessions to understand how students have performed in this year’s exams.
• Virtual communities where you can chat to teachers in your subject area about what’s important to you.

This is just the start . Our events calendar is full of different ways for you to learn, understand and be inspired. Find out more at aqa.org.uk/professional-development .

Help and support available

Visit our website for information, guidance, support and resources at aqa.org.uk/8585

If you'd like us to share news and information about this qualification, sign up for emails and updates at aqa.org.uk/keepinformed-food-preparation-and-nutrition

Alternatively, you can call or email our subject team direct.

E: foodprep@aqa.org.uk

T: 0161 957 3334