During this term, Year 3 students have been having cooking lessons as part of their carousel activities that they do every Thursday. The students make the short journey over to the Senior School kitchens, to meet with Food Tech teacher Mrs Oldale, and discover lots of new recipes she has devised for them. It is a great opportunity for the students to begin to learn a few basic cooking skills.

This week the students were making a nutritious ‘sunset pasta salad’, including cherry tomatoes, red pepper, and cucumber. 

As they do every week, they discuss the importance of personal hygiene, and always wash their hands thoroughly before they begin cooking, and put on their WGHS apron. They then watch Mrs Oldale’s demonstrations as she shows them the techniques they must follow, to ensure they safely chop their ingredients. 

They were using a bridge and claw chopping method to chop up their ingredients, and added this to a big bowl. They made a pasta sauce using vegetable oil, tomato ketchup, red wine vinegar and pepper; Mrs Oldale explained how oils and water do not mix and hence the students had to mix the sauce vigorously to create an emulsion. 

Miss Gunn, our cooking assistant, helped the students by boiling and draining their pasta for them. They discussed what the Italian term ‘al dente’ means, and how you don’t want the pasta to be raw but also don’t want it to be too soft! Afterwards, the students mixed all the ingredients together and served it in their bowls.

Another key lesson during the cooking carousel is the importance of cleaning up after yourselves! All the students worked in pairs to wash and dry their equipment at the end of the lesson, and ensure they left the kitchens as clean and tidy as they found them.

Overall, the cooking session was great fun, and the students loved getting to take home their delicious pasta to snack on. We hope their parents also get a chance to taste it too!

Mrs S Oldale

Head of Food and Nutrition