How to get a GCSE in cookery (well, half of one) with Jamie Oliver

By KATE LOVEYS
Updated:

Dream come true: Jamie Oliver will see cooking put back on school's menus after exam board Edexcel offered a course to up to a million pupils

Dream come true: Jamie Oliver will see cooking put back on school's menus after exam board Edexcel offered a course to up to a million pupils

You don’t need a GCSE in logic to work  it out.

Only one person could be behind a school course in cooking featuring modules  entitled Pasta La Vista Baby, Stewpendous and Veg Out.

Jamie Oliver, who lobbied ministers for six years to put cooking back on the  curriculum, will see his wish come true in September when the subject becomes compulsory in English secondary schools.

The TV chef has teamed up with exam  board Edexcel to create a course which  will be available to more than a million pupils.

Pupils following Oliver’s Home Cooking Skills BTEC – a vocational qualification which will earn the equivalent of half a GCSE – will learn to cook staple dishes such as chilli con carne and roast chicken as well as how to write a shopping list, read food labels and cook economically. 

The colourful curriculum with its  smattering of catchphrases reads like an Oliver recipe book.

The father of four launched the course last September and some 5,000 children in 200 schools are already taking it, a number expected to soar when it becomes mandatory to teach cooking for a minimum of one hour a week to 11 to 14-year-olds for at least a term.

Yesterday Oliver said teaching youngsters to cook would combat obesity and save lives. ‘Home cooking from fresh is one of the greatest pieces of knowledge anyone can have,’ he added.

He is also behind a project for Channel  4 beginning next month called  Jamie’s Dream School, in which he  invites celebrities and academics to try  to engage 20 school dropouts in learning subjects such as history, English and drama.

Cookery course: All pupils aged 11-14 will be taught for at least one hour a week for a full term when the subject becomes mandatory later this year

Cookery course: All pupils aged 11-14 will be taught for at least one hour a week for a full term when the subject becomes mandatory later this year

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