To broaden our Junior students horizon’s and introduce them to new topics, all Junior students participate in a carousel of activities, including Food and Nutrition, Design & Technology and Computing, throughout the academic year.  

This week Year 5 were making a delicious ‘Kaleidoscope Couscous’, including spring onions, red and green peppers, tomatoes, sweetcorn, and of course couscous, amongst a variety of herbs and spices.

As they do every week, they discuss the importance of personal hygiene, and always tie their hair back, wash their hands, and put on their Wakefield Girls’ apron. They then watch a demonstration by Head of Food and Nutrition, Mrs Oldale, as she  shows and explains the techniques that must be followed to ensure they safely chop their ingredients. 

For the couscous salad, students continued using lots of cooking techniques they have been developing over the past few years – such as using electronic measuring scales, chopping using the bridge and claw methods, and measuring ingredients using spoons. At the end of all Food and Nutrition lessons students work together in pairs to clean all their equipment and their work stations – always reminded that they must leave the kitchens as clean and tidy as they found them.

Of key importance in Food and Nutrition lessons is to discuss how food can both nourish our bodies, and also be eaten for enjoyment. In this lesson, Mrs Oldale spoke about the government guidelines of 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day, and the vitamins and minerals that are present in different fruits/vegetables. Students discussed what they had had for breakfast and whether they had reached their 5-a-day yet, discussing whether yoghurts and jam can be considered a portion of fruit. 

All of the student’s were very excited to try their couscous when they got home, as it smelt very tasty when they were plating up. Most of our students had not tried couscous before, so we were very proud of their open-mindedness and confidence to try new foods. We hope all our parents and carers also get a chance to taste at least a bite of their daughter’s cooking creations!

Mrs S Oldale

Head of Food and Nutrition