LNF Cymru Literacy and numeracy for Wales

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GCSE Food and Nutrition

Learners type objective, short and extended answers in an on-screen examination worth 40%, then complete two written assessments: a food science investigation built around a hypothesis, and a researched, planned and evaluated cooking task, both needing analysis, justification and precise sensory description. Numeracy is applied throughout: weighing and measuring, key temperatures, scaling and adapting recipe quantities, calculating energy and nutritional values, timing a plan of work, and presenting results in tables and charts. The single biggest thing Key Stage 3 should build is the fair-test habit: change one variable, measure and record the results in a table or chart, and write a conclusion that uses the evidence.

First taught
September 2025
Amount of literacy work
High
Amount of numeracy work
Medium
Specification
Open the WJEC specification (PDF)
How this GCSE is assessed
  • Unit 1: Principles of Food and Nutrition: Digital examination 1 hour 30 minutes, 40%, 80 marks
  • Unit 2: Food Investigation: Non-examination assessment, 8 hours, 20%, 40 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
  • Unit 3: Food and Nutrition in Action: Non-examination assessment, 12 hours, 40%, 80 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC

Skills that use Calculation

  1. Scaling and adapting recipe quantities

    Assessed: In coursework (non-examination assessment, NEA)

    Learners must select and adapt recipes for a single outcome or a number of outcomes, change ingredient quantities to meet an audience's needs, and treat quantities as a variable in experiments.

    Numeracy: Calculation, Relationships within the number system, Strategic competence, Conceptual understanding

    Getting pupils ready

    Year 7
    Pupils halve a recipe for four muffins to make two, and double it to make eight, writing the new quantities in a table.
    Year 8
    Pupils scale a soup recipe for four people up to serve a class of 30 using ratio, and round the quantities sensibly for weighing.
    Year 9
    Pupils reduce the sugar in a cake recipe by 25% and the fat by 20% using multipliers, then bake and compare the result with the original.
    Show the specification wording and the LNF statements

    Where it is in the specification: Unit 2, 2.2.2, page 20; Unit 3, 3.3.1 and 3.3.3, page 24

    “suggest changes to ingredients and quantities to meet the needs of the audience”
    Progression step 3

    • I can use ratio and proportion to calculate quantities.

    • I can halve 3-digit numbers in the context of number, money and measures.

    • I can use understanding of simple fraction, decimal and percentage equivalences, e.g. find 25% of 60cm and know that this is equivalent to ¼ of 60cm.

    Progression step 4

    • I can use ratio and proportion including map scales.

    • I can calculate a percentage increase or decrease.

    • I can use efficient methods for multiplication and division of whole numbers and decimals, including decimals such as 0.6 or 0.06.

    Progression step 5

    • I can use multipliers as an efficient method when working with percentages, e.g. multiply by 1.2 to increase an amount by 20%.

    • I can recognise, model and apply the underlying mathematical structures and ideas within problems, in order to formulate and solve them.

    • I can interpret answers within the context of the problem and consider whether answers, including calculator, analogue and digital displays, are sensible.

  2. Calculating energy and nutritional values

    Assessed: In the exam and in coursework (NEA)

    Unit 1 learners should know how to calculate energy and nutritional values in food. In Unit 3 learners explore the nutritional value of their dish and suggest changes to quantities to meet the audience's needs.

    Numeracy: Calculation, Measurement, Strategic competence, Fluency, Conceptual understanding

    Getting pupils ready

    Year 7
    Pupils read the per 100 g column on two cereal packets and work out which gives more sugar in a 30 g bowl.
    Year 8
    Pupils add up the energy in kilocalories of each ingredient in their pasta salad from a nutrition table and divide by the number of portions.
    Year 9
    Pupils calculate the energy, fat and sugar per portion of their dish, express each as a percentage of a teenager's reference intake, and adapt the recipe to lower one value.
    Show the specification wording and the LNF statements

    Where it is in the specification: Unit 1, 1.2.3, page 13; Unit 3, 3.3.3, page 24

    “Learners should know how to calculate energy and nutritional values in food.”
    Progression step 3

    • I can calculate a percentage, fraction and decimal of any quantity with a calculator where appropriate.

    • I can multiply numbers and decimals by a multiple of 10, e.g. 15 x 30, 1.4cm x 20.

    • I can add and subtract numbers using whole numbers and decimals.

    Progression step 4

    • I can express one quantity as a percentage of another.

    • I can use efficient methods for multiplication and division of whole numbers and decimals, including decimals such as 0.6 or 0.06.

    • I can represent and use compound measures, using standard units.

    Progression step 5

    • I can recognise, model and apply the underlying mathematical structures and ideas within problems, in order to formulate and solve them.

    • I can use a scientific calculator effectively and efficiently to carry out calculations using the available range of function keys.

    • I can interpret answers within the context of the problem and consider whether answers, including calculator, analogue and digital displays, are sensible.

Good to know

Links with other GCSEs

Food investigations use the same fair-test, variables and results-table skills as The Sciences, and recipe scaling and percentage of reference intake overlap with Mathematics and Numeracy.

Source: WJEC GCSE Food and Nutrition specification, Version 2, February 2025, teaching from 2025, for award from 2027 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd. 2024).