Home Economics
Staff
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Mrs C Morgan (Head of Department)
Mrs M Gallagher (Head of Junior School)
Miss E Caughey
Ms Ruth Murray (Home Economics Technician)
Key Stage 3
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Home Economics has a significant role to play by providing students with opportunities to explore issues explicitly relevant to real-life contexts. These experiences lead to the development of a wide range of transferable skills. Of particular value, is the contribution of the subject to the development of skills such as decision making and working with others. For Home Economics to be relevant in the curriculum, it must meet the overall curriculum objectives. These are, developing the students as individuals, as contributors to society and as contributors to the economy and the environment.
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Meeting Curriculum Objectives
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Home Economics develops students as individuals by helping them explore their health in a practical context, enhancing their potential to live a healthy lifestyle and make responsible choices about their diet and food.
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Home Economics develops students as contributors to society by giving them a sense of themselves as social beings and how they relate to one another; making them aware of values and lifestyles that are different from their own and helping them make reasoned judgements in family relationships.
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Home Economics develops students as contributors to the economy by giving them an awareness of themselves as consumers in a changing economy to help them become discerning and effective when making judgements in relation to the environment and personal finances.
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Key concepts
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Healthy Eating – recipes are chosen to engage students and stimulate their interest in food and eating as well as addressing the key principles of healthy eating. They become more challenging each year and encourage experimentation with foods outside the students’ usual experience.
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Home and Family life - exploring home and family life provides opportunities to understand the importance of the family as a caring unit.
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Independent living – practical cookery lessons lend themselves very well to the development of a wide range of skills beyond those associated with food. For example, there are opportunities to develop self-management skills and to promote independence. Students can take responsibility for the planning of their own work and managing their time rather than always following a teacher directed routine.
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In Junior School, Year 8 and Year 10 students have two periods of Home Economics a week. Year 9 students have three periods a week.
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​GCSE
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At GCSE, Year 11 and Year 12 students study CCEA GCSE Home Economics: Food and Nutrition. This specification includes topics such as food provenance, food processing and production, macronutrients and micronutrients, government nutritional guidelines, and food safety. Students develop practical skills in food preparation, cooking and presentation.
Students will learn about the nutritional content of foods and how to meet the specific nutritional and dietary needs of different groups of people. To do this, they modify recipes and plan, prepare and cook meals and dishes that reflect current government nutritional guidelines. They also study how to be an effective consumer in food choices, food safety and managing resources.
The specification has two units:
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Unit 1: Food and Nutrition (External Summer Exam, worth 50% of qualification)
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Unit 2: Practical Food and Nutrition (Controlled Assessment, worth 50% of qualification).
A-Level
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Post 16 students study CCEA GCE Nutrition and Food Science. This specification is available at two levels: AS and A2. Students can take the AS units plus the A2 units for a full GCE A level qualification. They can also choose to take the AS course as a stand-alone qualification.
In the AS units, students learn about macronutrients and micronutrients, and study nutritional requirements and current dietary recommendations for each life stage. In Unit AS 2, students investigate current research on diet, lifestyle and health.
Students who continue to A2 will explore securing a safe food supply from the primary producer to the consumer (Food Safety and Quality) by completing Option B* of the specification. They will also complete a Research Project module in Year 14. In this unit, students submit a 4000-word report on a research project of their own choice. Students must take their research area from AS 1, AS 2 or A2 modules. The project gives students opportunities to demonstrate appropriate knowledge, understanding and skills demanded by the process.
The GCE Nutrition and Food Science specification has four units:
AS units make up 40% of the full A level qualification and the A2 units make up 60%.
AS consists of two units
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AS 1: Principles of Nutrition
AS 2: Diet, Lifestyle and Health
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A2 consists of two units
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Option A - Food Security and Sustainability; or
Option B - Food Safety and Quality*
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Unit A2 2: Research Project.
Post A-Level
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Past students of A2 Nutrition and Food Science have left the College to study Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences, Food Science, Dietetics, Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Law and Business Studies in some of the most prestigious universities in the UK and Ireland.
Enrichment/Extra Curricular
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Year 8 students have the opportunity to join an afterschool cookery club (Numbers restricted)
Year 10 students can apply to take part in OLSPCK Bake Off Competition in Term 1.
LMCNI also provide cookery demonstrations and talks to GCSE Food and Nutrition students.
Year 14 students attend a one day training event on HACCP Principals in CAFRE College (Loughry Campus)
CEAIG
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Year 10 students learn about Careers linked with Home Economics in Term 1. Before Options Day, teachers will discuss the GCSE and GCE specifications with Year 10 and 12 students, respectively.
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Year 13 students are encouraged to apply to the University of Reading Summer School hosted by the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences. They also have the opportunity to take part in a virtual Dietetics work experience with staff from the Belfast Trust.
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