Home Economics is used to improve awareness of how and why to eat a healthy, balanced diet

It encourages confident preparation of high quality dishes for others to enjoy and to develop an understanding of how ingredients behave during food preparation.

Through weekly practical classes, individuals work independently, extending their range of skills and making their own decisions in order to confidently prepare high quality dishes. An experimental approach is used to investigate how ingredients behave during cooking and the consumer testing of equipment. Pupils have the opportunity to study, in more depth, an aspect of food that holds a particular interest for them.

Pupils in Years 7-9 are encouraged to enter the Young Chef Competition organised by the Central Berkshire Education Business Partnership. Pupils are inspired to produce a 3 course meal which is judged by a panel of chefs with the winner being entered into an inter school competition.

At GCSE, pupils follow the OCR Specification 'Home Economics: Food and Nutrition'. The knowledge and practical skills gained during KS3 are developed further with the emphasis now on nutrition. Nutrients, nutritional needs of individuals and consumer issues relating to food are all discussed.