Students Gain a Licence to Cook

By Sarah Brocklehurst

A group of Year 7 students were celebrating last week after becoming one of the first groups of students in West Sussex to successfully complete module 1 of "Licence to Cook".  "Licence to Cook" is a new government programme that has been developed to provide students with the opportunity to learn to cook, as well as make informed decisions about their diet and health.

Under the "Licence to Cook" programme students use the "Licence To Cook" web-site (www.licencetocook.org.uk) to undertake a number of online tutorials and practical cooking assignments.   The website is divided into four sections; under "Cooking" students can access over 30 simple, but tasty and healthy recipes, "Eating" contains useful information about food groups and healthy eating, "Shopping" provides tips on buying food such as how to understand food labels and finally the "Protecting" section deals with food hygiene and how to prepare, store and cook food safely.

Students at Warden Park have always achieved very high standards in Food Technology and we were therefore able to integrate this exciting new programme into our existing schemes of work with students undertaking the online tutorials and assessments as part of their PRS.

The successful students are pictured with Head Teacher Steve Johnson who had just presented them with their Licence to Cook certificates.  Mr Johnson remarked that he thought the students' parents would now be eagerly awaiting the opportunity to sample the students' newly acquired cookery skills!