Jamie Oliver joins forces with Edexcel to launch cookery course

19th March 2010, 12:47pm

Jamie Oliver has teamed up with Edexcel, an awarding body offering academic and vocational qualifications, to create a new and inspirational cooking course which will be available for all UK secondary schools and further education colleges later this year.

The Home Cooking Skills course has been developed over the last year by Jamie and his team alongside Edexcel. It represents the chef's first major step back into schools since his 'Jamie's School Dinners' TV series changed the face of school catering in 2005.

Home Cooking Skills aims to give every young person the basic skills to be able to feed themselves and their families in a healthy, cost-effective way and is available in two levels.

Level 1 of the course will focus on giving all young people the skills to prepare delicious and nutritious home-cooked food from fresh ingredients as well as understanding the value of passing on cooking knowledge.

Level 2 will develop the students' ability to plan and prepare a series of nutritious home-cooked meals for breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner, and help them understand how to cook economically.

Oliver said: "Six years ago, the very first thing that I asked for in my manifesto that I took to Downing Street was for schools to make cooking and life skills compulsory for all kids so that they learn about food and good eating habits while they're young.

"Six years on, the government have set aside time for mandatory cooking lessons for 11-14 year olds, but a lot of teachers and head-teachers are still wondering how they're going to fill those hours. I got bored of waiting for someone to come up with a proper plan so I decided to do it myself."

Rod Bristow, from Pearson UK which owns Edexcel, said: "The course has been developed to inspire both students and teachers using a variety of resources and the latest technology. Jamie's vision of equipping children and adults with the skill and ability to cook healthy and nutritious meals sits seamlessly with our desire to ensure everyone is able to achieve their full potential."

The Home Cooking Skills course will be ready for schools and colleges to begin teaching in September.

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