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 Logical reasoning
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Timing a plan of work
Learners must produce a timed order of work for a single food outcome and for a number of outcomes, including sequencing, timings and contingency plans, and later evaluate their time management.
Numeracy: Measurement, Strategic competence, Logical reasoning
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils write a simple time plan for a 50 minute practical with a clock time for each step, including washing up.
- Year 8
- Pupils plan pasta and a sauce cooked at the same time, using a time plan in 5 minute steps that shows when to start each part.
- Year 9
- Pupils write a dovetailed time plan for two dishes in a 90 minute lesson, including a contingency, then record actual times and calculate how far they drifted.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 3, 3.2.1, page 23; Unit 3, 3.3.4, page 25
“Learners should be able to produce a timed order of work to”
Progression step 3
I can use and interpret calendars, timetables and schedules to plan events and activities, and make calculations as part of the planning journey.
I can carry out practical activities involving timed events and explain which unit of time is the most appropriate.
I can prioritise and organise the relevant steps needed to complete the task or reach a solution.
Progression step 4
I can prioritise and organise the relevant steps needed to complete the task or reach a solution.
I can select, trial and evaluate a variety of possible approaches and break complex problems into a series of tasks.
I can justify my procedures, predictions and conjectures.
Progression step 5
I can prioritise and organise the relevant steps needed to complete the task or reach a solution.
I can select, trial and evaluate a variety of possible approaches and break complex problems into a series of tasks.
I can justify my procedures, predictions and conjectures.
Good to know
- Unit 1 is typed on screen, not handwritten: "Digital examination: 1 hour 30 minutes" (Summary of assessment, page 5) and "Assessment type: Digital Examination" (Unit 1, page 11).
- The specification does not mention marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar, and states no calculator rule for the examination: "The Assessment Pack will include all detailed information relating to assessment." (Assessment, page 27).
- AO3, analyse and evaluate, is 20% of the qualification, with 10% in the Unit 1 examination, 5% in Unit 2 and 5% in Unit 3 (Assessment objectives, page 27).
- Nutritional calculation carries different weight by unit: Unit 1 learners "should know how to calculate energy and nutritional values in food" (1.2.3, page 13), but in Unit 3 learners need only be aware of "how to calculate the nutritional value in a food outcome" (3.3.3, page 24).
- Both written assessments are time limited: Unit 2 "will take 8 hours to complete" and Unit 3 "will take 12 hours to complete", and each "could be completed in several sittings" (Arrangements for non-examination assessment, page 28). No word limits are stated.
- Costing and budgeting are not named in the specification. Money appears only through "socio-economic influences" on food choice (1.3.3, page 14; 3.1.1, page 22).
- Charts and star diagrams are listed with "such as", which the specification says "indicates that the specified content is for guidance only" (How to read the amplification, page 11).
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).