Departmental Staff
Mrs A O’Neill (Room 52)
Mrs G Haughey (Room 2)
Mrs P Maynes (Room 3)
Technician, Mrs C Martin
hOME ECONOMICS
The Home Economics Department is an integral part of life at Holy Trinity College.
The department offers courses across the key stages as well as after school opportunities
to take part in extra cooking classes. We offer a range of GCSE subjects to suit all interests and both academic and vocational choices.
The department has three rooms, all equipped with interactive whiteboards and a range of Home Economics equipment.
The department offers a range of courses across the key stages-
Key Stage 3
Year 8 cover a range of topics such as…Equipment, Weighing and Measuring,
Basic First Aid, Balance of Good Health, Vitamin C, Advertising and Shopping.
Year 9 cover a range of topics such as…Breakfast, Dairy Foods and Calcium, Grains
and Dietary Fibre, Food Safety, Anaemia, Parenting and Budgeting.
Year 10. Environmental Issues and Fairtrade, Food Labelling, Fats and CHD, Food Intolerances, Foreign Food, Getting Older, Consumer Awareness.
Key Stage 4
A wide range of GCSEs and equivalents are offered- CCEA GCSE Home Economics Food and Nutrition
This GCSE is quite a broad and interesting subject. The syllabus looks at the agri-food industry in Northern Ireland, it examines how the whole food chain works and the role of primary and secondary processing. It also looks at food nutrition and the needs of different ages and stages. Consumer choice and environmental issues such as food waste are examined.
The coursework element consists of a research task and practical work based on this.
Both the exams and the coursework task will be completed in 5th year.
CCEA GCSE Child Development
This is an excellent subject which can lead to early years teaching, classroom assistant, early year’s worker or as an excellent knowledge base for parenting. The course covers a wide range of topics and allows students to study a child they know in depth.
There are two examination papers which is written and based on the family, care & development of the child.
Level 2 Occupational Studies in Contemporary Cuisine and Patisserie and Baking (Design and Creativity) –
Distinction is equivalent to a C at GCSE. 100% portfolio.
This qualification is a good basis for preparing pupils for the hospitality industry. Over two years they will work on two units, Contemporary Cuisine and Patisserie and Baking.
They will make a range of starters, main course and dessert dishes as part of contemporary cuisine. For the Patisserie and Baking unit they will learn to work with different types of pastry, use different methods of cake making and make sauce based desserts.
This is a completely hands on qualification. Students will cook every week, photos will be taken of what they produce and a portfolio is built up. This portfolio will be examined by an external moderator at the end of the course.
Key Stage 5
BTEC National Certificate in Children’s Care, Learning and Development. (Level 3) Pearson
BTEC National Diploma in Children’s Care, Learning and Development. (Level 3) Pearson
This is an extremely useful qualification which leaves students qualified as classroom assistants, childcare workers or early year’s setting managers. Some students have also used it as a basis for early year’s teaching and speech and language. Students should always check with individual universities about entry requirements for particular courses.
The course is taught 60% in school and 40% of time on placement in nursery schools, primary schools or early year’s settings.
Assessment is 100% portfolio work, 50% will be taught in Year 13 and 50% in Year 14.