GCSE Food Prep & Nutrition - 2019 spec hard?

[ComplexNeeds]

DD Yr9 choosing GCSEs and considering Food Prep & Nutrition as her ‘creative’. I’ve looked at the AQA spec (although not sure if that’s the board that school uses) and it does seem quite science based, which is great in many ways but DD isn’t very academic. What have other DCs thought of the new spec (post 2019, is very different to previous spec). School don’t offer BTECs and she’s already choosing maths, English x2, triple science, mfl, history, so food would be her ninth. Thanks in advance.

It’s quite rare to do only 6/7 GCSEs though isn’t it? OPs daughter is middling ability so 9 doesn’t sound too bad. I do think triple science will be a stretch, but if she doesn’t like any of the other options I suppose there’s not much choice.

I think triple science is a good idea if not academic, because a, if you fail one you can pass the other two, but also you tend to get taught by Subject specialists.

Food is a good choice if aiming to 4/5/6 (and they are perfectly good grades. The coursework/practical takes the pressure off the final exam.

My DD is sitting gcse this year. Only 10% of final grade is cooking.

It is far more food science / nutrition based and there are quite large numbers in her class that obviously did not understand this and are struggling with the work. There is also quite a large element of coursework through Y11 so they need to be motivated to work on that in good time.

My daughter has been told that even if you mess up final practical you will still get points for showing you have planned it, identified timings etc. so if the cooking does go wrong it's not a disaster for marking.

It depends which exam board. My son did AQA Food Prep & Nutrition which was:
50% written exam,
35% food preparation assessment (the practical exam)
15% Food investigation (the wriiten project)

@Sublimeursula I hear you! And totally agree. She won’t move schools. I tried to persuade her last year ready for yr9 but she absolutely will not. 🤷‍♀️ So we are where we are as @TheMarzipanDildo points out. There’s limited choice and she’s an average kid who’s average in most things. Dislikes most subjects other than history (which I think she’ll go off when gcse starts!) The triple is a worry but so is maths. But as long as she passes, which I think she’s capable of then all good. you’re right about self esteem! But she’s not for moving.

I’ll find out which exam board - most subjects there seem to be AQA but not always.

@ComplexNeeds does the school not offer PE GCSE? She could concentrate on her dance and gymnastics, sounds like she would do really well.

Failing that, here's a positive story for you and your DD. My goddaughter did Food Tech not knowing much about it, but had to choose something for her final GCSE choice… Sh loved it, did it for A level, then degree, then PhD. Now works abroad for an international food agency!

Dd did food tech, it's was pretty full on as far as presentation work, portfolio, practicing dishes at home plus supplying ingredients (school did ask families if they could afford it before option was finalised) but not that academic

A slightly off topic tip from my Food Tec degree apprenticeship DC who did GCSE but pre 2019 - if you miniaturise your dishes, you get extra marks for scaling the ingredients down, and they don't take as long to cook which reduces the anxiety over the time pressure a little.

What a fab story @thing47
Thats a great tip @Rabbitthethird genius!

Sounds like Food Tech will be a good choice for her then.
I too was wondering if there was a PE option.. She might have to do a team sport as well, but her dance and gymnastics might serve her well for that and she would enjoy at least one subject.

Is it worth considering Foundation levels for maths and science, if she's only aiming for a 5/6 on a good day? A 5 is quite a respectable mark and she could get that on the foundation level, and then the workload wouldn't be so bad even if the Food Tech was quite intense in terms of work and organisation.

I asked my DS today what her say to someone considering Food and nutrition gcse. His reply was if you like biology then the theory will be enjoyable. The practical element is easy if you already have kitchen skills. He said it taught him organisational skills in the kitchen, washing up as he goes along, efficiency etc. As a parent you have to be prepared for the same meal for 5 weekends in a row when they are practising but I have to say when he cleans the kitchen now after cooking it's spotless.

Thank you @chocolatenutcase We can cope with repetitive dinners if someone else is cooking them especially if there’s a spotless kitchen afterwards! She’s speaking to head of year this morning about her choices so hopefully she’ll approve and give her the green light.
@Bimbleberries no one has mentioned foundation level to me or her. It’s hard to tell at yr9 but I think she could get 6’s. Does foundation stop at grade 5? If so, she wouldn’t want that, she’d want to at least try for 6’s, I think. Hopefully the head of year will give her some guidance today.

Yes, foundation stops at 5, so if she is capable of getting 6, then higher is the better choice generally - it does mean covering quite a lot more work, though, and sometimes the harder levels of maths or science can be off putting enough to a grade 5/6 candidate that they lose confidence or don't get enough practice on the more basic stuff. And in those cases, sometimes foundation is the better choice for a more secure grade 5. (I know more about maths than science though). If there are sets, though, that can help a lot as they can tailor the work to the class and spend more time on fundamental skills and less on the grade 8/9 stuff as needed. And the pupils in those sets don't feel as intimidated by the grade 9 pupils. So then higher might be the right choice. It's not always an easy decision - probably good idea to discuss with the teachers who know her and her abilities. Certainly easier to start with higher and drop down to foundation if needed than the other way around. And the score needed for a 5 on Foundation is much higher than on the Higher paper, so can be less good for pupils who are more likely to make many small errors, for example, even on easy work. However, foundation is definitely right for some pupils, and a grade 5 is fine for many future courses - probably not for some choices at some schools, though, and it might be quite satisfying for her to get a grade 6 if she is capable of it.

That’s incredibly helpful @Bimbleberries thank you for taking the time out for such a full explanation. She met with HoY earlier who has agreed to her doing 9 rather than 10, and agreed to her subject choices but added that if she’s struggling with triple she can drop down to double (apparently the timetable allows this) and end up with 8. We all know 8 GCSEs is fine. So that takes the pressure off yet gives her an opportunity to give it a go and see.
You’ve all been AMAZINGLY helpful in making these tricky decisions and giving her pointers to discuss with HoY.