VCSE Hospitality and Catering
Hospitality and Catering asks learners to read annual assignment briefs closely, answer 30 multiple-choice questions on food safety on screen, and write justifications, proposals, production or event plans and evaluations in the 70% unit, while speaking and listening to customers, in Welsh where possible, at a Unit 4 event. Its numeracy is practical and applied: exact food safety temperatures and time limits, weighing, measuring and scaling quantities and portions, costing and budgeting, timing a plan, and using customer feedback. The single biggest thing Key Stage 3 should build is the habit of turning a brief into a clear, timed and costed plan, then writing an honest evaluation against it.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
- Step before
- Foundation Hospitality and Catering, Entry Level and Level 1
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Introduction to the Hospitality and Catering Industry: Mandatory external non-examination assessment 2 hours, 15%, 45 marks, set and marked by WJEC, tasks based on an assignment brief that changes annually
- Unit 2: Food Safety, Hygiene, and Allergens: Mandatory digital examination 1 hour, 15%, 30 marks, 30 multiple-choice questions, on screen only via Surpass, auto-marked and graded pass or fail
- Unit 3: Catering in Action (option): Non-examination assessment 12 hours, 70%, 105 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC; centres choose Unit 3 or Unit 4
- Unit 4: Hospitality in Action (option): Non-examination assessment 12 hours, 70%, 105 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC; centres choose Unit 3 or Unit 4
Skills that use Interpreting data
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Collecting and using customer feedback data
Unit 4 learners judge whether their event met customer needs and expectations and must use customer feedback to set out improvements, which means asking simple questions, collecting responses and drawing fair conclusions. Appendix C does not map the statistics strand to any unit, so the depth of analysis is not set.
Numeracy: Collecting data, Representing data, Interpreting data
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils run a tally chart of favourite flavours at a class smoothie tasting and say which flavour to make more of.
- Year 8
- Pupils give tasters a rating scale from 1 to 5 for a bake sale, draw a bar chart of the results and pick the best and worst sellers.
- Year 9
- Pupils collect rating and comment feedback from guests at a class event, work out the mean rating for each dish, and write three improvements that quote the figures.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 4, Section 4.4.1, page 50; Appendix C, page 66
“address areas for improvement for future hospitality events using customer feedback.”
Progression step 3
I can collect relevant data to answer posed questions.
I can represent data using:
- lists, tally charts, tables, diagrams and frequency tables
- bar charts, grouped data charts, line graphs and conversion graphs
- pictograms where one symbol represents more than one unit using a key
- Venn and Carroll diagrams.
I can draw conclusions from data and recognise that some conclusions may be misleading or uncertain.
Progression step 4
I can collect own data for a survey, e.g. through designing a questionnaire.
I can collect both quantitative and qualitative data.
I can draw conclusions from data and recognise that some conclusions may be misleading or uncertain.
Progression step 5
I can collect data in a suitable way according to my hypothesis.
I can draw conclusions from data and recognise that some conclusions may be misleading or uncertain.
Good to know
- No marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar are mentioned. AO3, "Interpret and evaluate information/ideas/evidence of the hospitality and catering industry", is 15% of the qualification (Section 3.1, page 52).
- Calculator use is not stated. Section 3 says "The Assessment Pack will include all detailed information relating to assessment." (page 52), so check the Assessment Pack for each unit.
- Unit 2 can be awarded as a standalone Level 2 Certificate, for which "candidates are required to achieve a minimum score of approximately 75%" (Summary of assessment, page 5), and "Special consideration cannot be applied for the awarding of Unit 2" (Section 3.2, page 53).
- Written evidence may be handwritten: "The assessment must be submitted digitally, either as scanned handwritten responses or completed digitally." (Section 3.2, page 53).
- Speaking can be credited through observation: "performance evidence (for example, presentations) must be documented using observation records that include descriptive and summative comments" (Section 3.3, page 55). Teachers "must not provide feedback on the evidence being produced" (page 55).
- Appendix C (pages 65 and 66) maps reading and writing to all sections of every unit, speaking only to section 1.2.2 and parts of Unit 4, numeracy to no section of Unit 1, and the statistics strand to no unit at all.
Links with other qualifications
Food safety temperatures, recipe scaling, timed plans and evaluating practical outcomes overlap with GCSE Food and Nutrition, and costing, budgeting and customer feedback overlap with GCSE Business, so shared KS3 routines for scaling recipes and writing evaluations would serve all three.
Source: WJEC Level 1/Level 2 VCSE Hospitality and Catering specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).