Year 7
At Year 7 level, students explore the kitchen and understand how to use equipment safely. They start to form the foundations different culinary principals and put into place theoretical and practical scenarios. Students use ICT to create informative projects and research different recipes. They work in teams and individually to create food and practise their skills for a range of contexts.
Year 8
Within Year 8 Food Technology, there is a strong focus on creativity and overall simplicity in cooking practicals. As a faculty, we endeavour to increase food literacy through highly engaging theory lessons that are designed to empower students with practical knowledge about a well-balanced diet, key nutrients in fruits, vegetables and a variety of meats. Our practical classes are exciting learning environments where teachers focus on experiential knowledge and develop key skills including, wet and dry cooking methods, knife skills, perfection of safety and hygiene skills and presentation techniques.
Students also learn about sustainability and how food waste effects the way we live, they create an assignment ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ where they look at how they manage food waste in their home environment and create a recipe based on key left over ingredients.
Year 9
Students in Year 9 Food Technology, learn about the Aboriginal cuisine and its range of cooking styles, early influences on Australian food from the First Fleet to the food trends we have in Australia today and different types of cuisines around the world. To complement this learning, students create food products from different countries each week which focus on the different cooking techniques and ingredients used in the particular cuisine. Some of the practicals include spring rolls, sushi, tandoori chicken, and gnocchi with tomato and basil sauce.
Students in Year 9 Food Technology learn about Nutrition and the Australian Dietary Guidelines. To complement this learning, students create healthy and well balanced meals weekly.
Students also learn about different cuisines by cooking foods from around the world.
Students complete a ‘Design Brief’ for one of their assessment task where student select a cuisine and produce a dish from it. This includes research, design, production and evaluation of their work. This course enables students to scaffold their knowledge and skills to get them ready for year 10.
Year 10
This course aims to help students prepare for VCE Food Studies. At the same time they learn about all aspects of cookery principals, key knowledge and key skills. It gives students a hands on approach to different cooking methods, they include: pasta making, risotto making and other cuisines from around the world and the trends currently in society with the food we eat today from around the world and within Australia.
Students complete an assignment where they focus on a particular country, investigate significant festivals or themes and create a dinner party around it. They have to create a menu and table setting, complete complex production work to demonstrate a solid understanding of food and ingredients from the chosen culture. This encourages student inquiry and innovation of wide world of food.
Year 11
In Food Studies at year 11, the students explore the origins and cultural roles of food, from early civilisations through to today’s industrialised and global world. Through an overview of the earliest food production regions and systems, students gain an understanding of the natural resources, climatic influences and social circumstances that have led to global variety in food commodities, cuisines and cultures with a focus on one selected region other than Australia.
Students look at food form ‘Hunter Gather’ communities to understand the beginnings of food. They explore a wide range of ingredients from different cultures around the word and prepare ingredients from raw products. They then create a diverse range of meals including foods from Indigenous Australians to increase their own awareness of food processing and fusion foods.
Year 12
The students explore the science of food: our physical need for it and how it nourishes and sometimes harms our bodies. Students investigate the physiology of eating and appreciating food, and the microbiology of digestion. They also investigate the functional properties of food and the changes that occur during food preparation and cooking. They analyse the scientific rationale behind the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating and develop their understanding of diverse nutrient requirements.
Students will also look at issues about the environment, ecology, ethics, farming practices, the development and application of technologies, and the challenges of food security, food safety, food wastage, and the use and management of water and land. Students research a selected topic, seeking clarity on current situations and points of view, considering solutions and analysing work undertaken to solve problems and support sustainable futures.
