LNF Cymru Literacy and numeracy for Wales

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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 Reading strategies

  1. Reading an assignment brief and applying knowledge to a scenario

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

    Every non-examination assessment is based on an externally set brief that changes each year. Unit 1 gives a hospitality scenario and a set of tasks, and Units 3 and 4 ask learners to plan and deliver dishes or an event in response to a brief, so learners must pick out the customer, constraints and requirements before they start.

    Literacy: Reading strategies, Understanding, response and analysis

    Getting pupils ready

    Year 7
    Pupils read a short brief for a children's party menu, highlight the customers, budget and dietary needs, and list three things their dish must do.
    Year 8
    Pupils read a café scenario with a vegan customer and a customer with coeliac disease and write down what each dish must avoid and include.
    Year 9
    Pupils read a full mock brief for an afternoon tea stall at the Royal Welsh Show, annotate every requirement, and turn it into a checklist they tick off while planning.
    Show the specification wording and the LNF statements

    Where it is in the specification: Section 3.2, pages 53 and 54; Summary of assessment, page 5

    “The brief will include a scenario based on a hospitality and catering provision and a set of tasks”
    Progression step 3

    • I can use a range of strategies for finding information, e.g. skimming for gist, scanning for detail.

    • I can show understanding of and use the main ideas and significant details in different texts on the same topic.

    • I can read closely, identifying and noting features of texts, e.g. introduction, sequence, illustrations, formality, key vocabulary.

    Progression step 4

    • I can use a range of strategies, e.g. speed reading, close reading, annotation, prediction, to skim texts for gist, key ideas and themes, and scan for detailed information.

    • I can read, with concentration, printed and digital texts that are new to me and update, broaden and deepen my understanding of information, ideas and issues.

    • I can read closely, follow up and use additional material in texts to extend my understanding.

    Progression step 5

    • I can read and analyse a range of unseen, printed and digital texts with concentration and independence.

    • I can read closely, analysing the content, language and impact of texts to deepen my understanding.

  2. Reading multiple-choice questions precisely in the food safety examination

    Assessed: In the exam

    Unit 2 is a one hour on-screen examination of 30 multiple-choice questions on food safety, hygiene and allergens, and the standalone Level 2 certificate needs about 75%. Learners must read short questions precisely, tell apart options that look alike, and know exact terms such as use-by and best before.

    Literacy: Reading strategies

    Getting pupils ready

    Year 7
    Pupils read real food packaging and find the use-by or best before date, the storage instructions and any of the 14 allergens shown in bold.
    Year 8
    Pupils answer multiple-choice questions on bacteria and food storage, and for each one write a sentence on why the nearly right option is wrong.
    Year 9
    Pupils write their own multiple-choice questions on the 4Cs with one right answer and three believable wrong ones, then swap and answer a partner's set.
    Show the specification wording and the LNF statements

    Where it is in the specification: Summary of assessment, page 5; Section 3.2, page 53; Unit 3, Section 3.3.1, page 39

    “The examination will include 30 questions and will have an approximate pass mark of 75%”
    Progression step 3

    • I can read words and sentences from different texts using a range of strategies to make meaning.

    • I can use a range of strategies to make meaning from words and sentences, including:

      • knowledge of phonics
      • word roots
      • word families
      • syntax
      • text organisation
      • prior knowledge of context.

    • I can use inference and deduction to understand the text, and can consider the reliability of what I read.

    Progression step 4

    • I can use my knowledge of:

      • word roots and families
      • grammar, sentence and whole-text structure
      • content and context

      to make sense of words, sentences and whole texts.

    • I can use inference and deduction to understand more complex texts, and can consider the reliability and impact of what I read.

    Progression step 5

    • I can use my knowledge of:

      • word roots and families
      • grammar, sentence and whole-text structure
      • content and context

      to make sense of words, sentences and whole texts.

    • I can gain full understanding of texts using inference, deduction and analysis, understanding the context of the texts that influence the reader.

Good to know

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).