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 Fluency

  1. 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).