Home Economics
Staff
​
Mrs A. Acheson (Head of Department)
Ms M. Gallagher (Health Coordinator)
Mrs C Morgan
Mrs C. Hughes (Technician)
Key Stage 3
The Northern Ireland curriculum seeks to empower pupils to achieve their potential and to make informed and responsible decisions throughout their lives. It is about helping pupils prepare for life and work:
-
As individuals
-
As contributors to society
-
As contributors to the economy and environment
​
Home Economics has a significant role to play in this. Home Economics provides pupils with opportunities to explore real issues explicitly relevant to real-life contexts. These experiences lead to the development of a wide range of transferable skills. Of particular value is the contribution of the subject to the development of skills such as decision making and working with others.For Home Economics to be relevant in the curriculum it must meet the overall curriculum objectives. These are, developing the pupils as individuals, as contributors to society and as contributors to the economy and the environment.
Meeting Curriculum Objectives:
Home Economics develops pupils as individuals by:
Helping them explore their health in a practical context, enhancing their potential to live a healthy lifestyle and make responsible choices about their diet and food Home Economics develops pupils as contributors to society by: Giving them a sense of themselves as social beings and how they relate to one another; making them aware of values and lifestyles that are different from their own and helping them make reasoned judgements in family relationships.
Home Economics develops as contributors to the economy by:
Giving them an awareness of themselves as consumers in a changing economy to help them become discerning and effective when making judgements in relation to the environment and personal finances.
Key concepts:
Healthy Eating – recipes are chosen to engage pupils and stimulate their interest in food and eating as well as addressing the key principles of healthy eating. They become more challenging each year and encourage experimentation with foods outside the pupils’ usual experience.
Home and Family life - exploring home and family life provides opportunities to understand the importance of the family as a caring unit.
Independent living – practical cookery lessons lend themselves very well to the development of a wide range of skills beyond those associated with food. For example, there are opportunities to develop self-management skills and skills to promote independence. Pupils can take responsibility for the planning of their own work and managing their time rather than always following a teacher directed routine.
​
Key Stage 4
Home Economics provides a unique opportunity for pupils to develop and apply knowledge, understanding, skills and competences related to home and family life. The course involves students in the study of nutrition, food choice, diet and health within the context of home and family.
It encourages knowledge and understanding of current nutritional advice, the nutritional needs of family members throughout the family life cycle and of diet related conditions such as cancer and coronary heart disease. Students are encouraged to think critically, make informed choices, develop practical food skills and manage resources so that they are enabled to lead effective lives as individuals and family members as well as members of the wider community. The integrated approach reflects the coherent delivery of a broad and balanced syllabus.
In studying this course, candidates should be encouraged to make appropriate use of information and communication technology (ICT). A study of the syllabus will provide students with opportunities to experience practical activities that encourage the development of personal, social, creative, investigative, measurement, communication, management and psycho-motor skills. The practical element of Home Economics is an essential and enjoyable experience. Candidates can take pride in their achievements.
Post 16
CCEA Advanced Subsidiary GCE and Advanced GCE Home Economics provide a good foundation for higher education courses and for a range of interesting careers. Both are organized into modules of manageable content, with opportunities for theoretical and practical application, use of ICT to enhance capability and development and generation of evidence for assessing Key Skills. Candidates are required to study two compulsory modules for the AS course and a further two (one of which is coursework) for the full Advanced GCE course.
Extra Curricular
At all Key Stages there are opportunities to involve various outside agencies e.g Environmental Health Dept., Loughry College, Dairy Council for N.I, Livestock and Meat Commission, N.I. Consumer Council and Sea Fish Industry Authority in the form of speakers, educational visits and competitions.
Facilities
The HE department has 3 dedicated practical cookery rooms on level 1: HE2, HE3 and HE5. It also has 2 resource rooms on the same level. Each classroom in the department has a C2k networked computer and an interactive whiteboard and printer. The department has a large amount of specialist equipment. Each practical room has a combination of ceramics hobs, gas and electric ovens and a gas hob. They also have microwave ovens, a dishwasher and a chiller cabinet and fridge.
Further cold storage is available in the resource area between 1HE2 and 1HE 3.
​
​