Michael Jacks
Michael Jacks sees cooking as a bridge – a way to get children interested in food, which has even proven successful in encouraging some limited, more fussy eaters to develop their palates.
As the Food Tech teacher, and also the Form Tutor for Year 8, Michael adopts a flexible approach to cooking, ensuring that there is something to interest everyone. In the kitchen, Year 10 has been making chicken pasta bake, with one child keen to flex his chef skills by marinating and then pan-frying the chicken. For the lower years, the classes focus on helping the children to become more proficient in the kitchen, including using the large chef knives.
From turning on the cooker, to learning why it’s important to preheat the oven, they gain confidence at every level, from stirring food cooking in a hot pan to holding and using a knife with confidence.
“It’s about giving them more independence and, through repetitive learning, helping them to gain skills. As they get older, I become less and less hands-on, and by the time they get to Year 11 and 12, they are doing it all on their own, with a just bit of support from me every now and then,” says Michael.
“It’s about giving them more independence and, through repetitive learning, helping them to gain skills.”
Cooking extends to learning about preparation, organisation and the all-important clearing up. “For pancake day, after they’d made their pancakes, I said we’d eat them after the kitchen was all clean!”
Lessons are broken down into bite-sized chunks, with large slides providing easy-to-follow steps. “We don’t provide a wall of words, but easy to understand instructions. It allows them to check what they need to do next and progress at their own speed. And if someone wants to deviate and do something different, I support that.
“I actively encourage them to think differently and experiment. And if they say they don’t like food, I encourage them to cook it for someone else, a family member or friend, tweaking the ingredients to help them begin to love cooking.”
Michael adds that he even gets emails from parents, asking him to supply a much loved recipe for cooking at home.
With the school’s horticultural area growing produce, students also get to cook using their own ingredients, including the herbs, apples and onions, which were used to make chutney for the Christmas Sharing day.
Having joined LVS Hassocks from teaching in a mainstream secondary school, Michael says he has learnt to make necessary adjustments, including being less regimented and more flexible in class, which he loves. “I’m really enjoying it here. I feel I have the time to support each individual student.”