School "cookery"?

[Sychnant]

DS is in Year 7 and this term they are doing cookery.

Next week he has to take in dried pasta, grated cheese/breadcrumbs, a suitable dish, and... a jar of pasta sauce.

I think this is ridiculous, and not cookery. It will be pretty awkward to carry home (2 buses) and I can't see that it will be nice to eat after being reheated. And it's not really cookery is it. He knows how to stir together pasta and sauce and put them in the oven. I'd much rather they taught him to make a red sauce, which we can then mix with pasta and have for tea.

Should I say something to the school or will I sound like a loon??

[Mrsjayy]

I guess you are right about the prep thing i just think that starting on a jar sauce is a bit meh they could have made something else that was just as easy

[pocketsized]

When I had my first cookery lessons there were kids in my class who didn't know how to butter bread, and tried to wash up with stone cold water and no washing up liquid. Whilst some kids are very capable, there will be some in the class who have never been allowed to set foot in a kitchen before who will find boiling the pasta difficult enough! Dull for your DC, but difficult for teachers to manage in any other way unfortunately!

[stillsingingintherain]

Maybe they are thinking 'baby steps' but there are plenty of dishes that they could make from scratch that are easy for beginners. For example spaghetti carbonara using cream cheese, ham & an egg.

I remember in the first cookery lesson we made bread and butter pudding - was delish!

[Gileswithachainsaw]

That's not a cookery lesson. It's assembly lesson.

why can't they make a sauce.

what's next instant bisto cheese sauce?

very lazy.

[TeenAndTween]

stillsinging

For your carbonara you need at least the following, all of which my 12 yo DD would have found a challenge

Breaking an egg with no shell going in
Chopping ham without cutting yourself
Mixing together while not burning yourself or the food
Simultaneously cooking pasta while not letting it boil over or letting pasta over cook.
Drain pasta without pouring boiling water all over yourself.

[BabyMurloc]

My first home ec class was to...make a sandwich.

Same here.

Get a couple of plastic tubs with decent snap on lids so he can transport this stuff in and out easier. They can be a touch pricey but they do last and can withstand trips on the bus without spilling. It's the damage to school books etc from pilled food that's more costly... bloody stupid home economics

[TeenAndTween]

Everyone, do not overestimate the natural cooking skills of less coordinated children.

At 12 my DD was unable to hold a saucepan handle on a hob without her fingers encroaching over to the hot bit, or to stir over a hob without hand or wrist dropping onto the edge of the saucepan. She also could not chop safely without fingers getting dangerously near the knife. (Despite having been shown at home many many times).

25 children in a class, you will have at least 1 in the bottom 4% of motor skills. They need to start gently to give the teacher a chance to assess basic skills to know who needs most help and how to progress.

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

I like the idea of sending him with a jar of home-made sauce.
Probably wont be allowed to use it due to health and safety though, so be careful!
Our first home ec lesson was make a cup of tea and a slice of toast.
I don't drink tea. Or coffee.
So after I had eaten my toast and poured myself a really complicated glass of tap water... The write up didn't take very long!
I will guess they have to get the whole class up to the same level of competence before they can move onto more complicated things?
But the school year is nearly over!

[Gileswithachainsaw]

25 children in a class, you will have at least 1 in the bottom 4% of motor skills. They need to start gently to give the teacher a chance to assess basic skills to know who needs most help and how to progress

nothings going to improve In one measly lesson a week/fortnight (depending on whether sessions are rotated). This is the one subject there's usually no homework or after school sessions for.

half the class won't understand trigonometry either. but you can't expect everyone else to not be taught it.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

learning to cook is as important as anything else. yes there will be kids who can't do it easily. but there will also be people who have done what's been asked of them at a much younger age. It's not fair to make those kids hang around opening jars because another child can't boil pasta.

There could easily be the option of those children bringing in packets or jars while allowing others to actually learn something else. You wouldn't expect any other subject to make everyone work to the lowest denominator and this shouldn't be allowed in home economics either

[pocketsized]

The problem is having enough adults to supervise and instruct practical tasks with hot pans and knives etc. If there is only one adult, 25 kids and they all need to be shown something at their level and closely supervised while they do it it's going to be very difficult. I agree it's not really fair, but very difficult to organise practically.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Well then it's pointless isn't it?

why bother at all if it's never going to stem above a sandwich or a jar?

[Gileswithachainsaw]

How many people are honestly going to fork out fir ingredients when they have the stuff at home to do it properly, only to make something their kids can do already and it's inedible cos it's made with instant powdered crap?

people haven't got money to waste like that

[momb]

patsa? a sandwich? My YD would be jealous. She has been doing food tech all term. She spent 6 weeks designing a sandwich and learning about the relative consistencies and reasons for each component (butter to provide some protection from moisture to the bread, mouthfeel etc). By half term she still hadn't made the sandwich.
She went in this week fully expecting to make a sandwich.
They did their first cooking: a single slice of toast under a grill per pair of children, with no butter or jam to spread on it.
Her homework is to work on an attractive design for the packaging of the imaginary sandwich.

[PaperdollCartoon]

momb! OMG thats hilarious, your poor daughter! The only thing I can remember from school is making french bread pizza under the grill.

OP can you make a proper sauce at home and sent it with him in a jar?

[Gileswithachainsaw]

momb what an utter waste if everyone's time!!!!! toast? I despair seriously

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

Momb
I hope the school-dinner staff at your school are quicker than that!
They could have been set all the theory as homework and made the sandwich in class the next lesson.
Sat around, eating the sandwiches they had made, discussing the merits or cheese v peanut butter....

[Momagain1]

the class is geared to the least prepared student. for a great many, reading and interpreting the directions to boil water, cook the pasta and sauce, pay attention to time and consider or 'done' indicators will be QUITE a lot to log into their brain. operating the stove will be completely alien and unknown.

I would rather hang out with that mum that expects more than that mum who is in a complete panic about the idea of her child operating a cooker at all. she is probably on her own thread, being talked down from calling the head and insisting that the children should be allowed nothing more complex than instructions on making a sandwich from pre--sliced ingredients, or maybe, possibly, using a microwave to heat a ready meal. because dangerous!

[bilbodog]

the long and short of it seems to be that if you want your kids to be able to cook you need to show them yourselves....................... I didn't learn to cook at school but by watching my mother and being interested and now my daughter does the same (cant say the same for my son who can't be bothered but he could if he wanted to). Waste of time for schools to try and do it from what you have all said...............................

[Topseyt]

Believe me, there are some schools that go too far the other way.

My DD3 (nearly 13) recently did a food tech class where they were not only supposed to make the sauce and filling from scratch, but the pasta as well. All in a double lesson at school.

She now understands why I buy dried or ready made pasta and only make the sauce/filling from scratch.

[mrstweefromtweesville]

A lot of the year 7 stuff is about learning how to use the kitchen efficiently and safely, isn't it? What you make is secondary. We started with 'Angel Delight'. I wonder if it still exists.

[Topseyt]

Oh, and most of the class did not finish that assessment.

No biggie for my daughter (didn't quite finish either) as she isn't taking the subject for GCSE. Others will be though.

[mrstweefromtweesville]

www.angeldelightdesserts.co.uk/
Yes it does.

[UpWithPup]

In my first year of high school we made pizza (ready made base), fruit salad, fairy cakes, toasties etc. Nothing spectacular, by the final year we were expected to produce a 2 course meal over a double lesson. We were all capable of working out what was 'worth' doing yourself and what was better to buy predone.

[TeenAndTween]

Giles
Most schools do not initially set for Tech, because it isn't done to any kind of level in primary, and so there are no initial baselines, unlike maths.

Also, tech is often done on rotation so maybe only 6 weeks of any tech before moving to something else.
So maybe yes, in y7 someone may not learn much in food tech, but they may learn more in resistant materials or whatever.

Then when schools have been able to ensure everyone is safe etc, they can set based on ability, and more skilled kids can go faster.

But it really wouldn't help your kids learn if on the first lesson another DC has a major accident due to being pushed beyond their capabilities without adequate instruction or supervision.