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Air fryer revolutionises PE lessons at Harrogate school

Air fryers have helped to bring A Level PE lessons to life for Harrogate Sixth Formers learning how to prepare the nutritious food.

Air fryer revolutionises PE lessons at Harrogate school

Air fryers have helped to bring A Level PE lessons to life for Harrogate Sixth Formers learning how to prepare the nutritious food.

Lower Sixth pupils at Ashville College, all of whom are accomplished young sportspeople, have participated in a ‘Diet and Nutrition MasterChef’ session, equipped only with an air fryer, a kettle, hand utensils, and their ingredients to create a range of delicious meals.

The idea sprang from a passing conversation in the staff room between Mr Mathieu Medway, Head of Academic PE, and his colleagues about air fryers and the nutritional, energy-saving and cost-saving benefits of their use.

Each group of two to three pupils was tasked with creating a meal for a specific type of sportsperson and scenario, taking into account the timing of the meal relative to their sporting activity, the player’s gender, height, weight and age, their weekly workload, and allergies.

Mr Paul Stansfield, Director of Sport, said:

“It has been really inspiring to see how Mr Medway and the team have helped to enthuse the pupils about the course module theory, and encouraged them to develop skills that will be valuable to them in the future.

“Like all subject specialists at Ashville, we are constantly looking for new ways to engage pupils with their learning and bring curriculum content to life, and this has been a brilliant example of that.”

The pre-race evening meal for a female 400m athlete was crispy shredded chicken, egg fried rice, peas and a smoothie; the during-match cricket tea for a batsman consisted of chicken breast with rice accompanied by a hydration electrolyte drink, a glass of milk, and a bowl of fruit, yoghurt and honey; and the post-match meal for an international level Rugby player was a sirloin steak, fries, salad and homemade ketchup.

The exercise combined academic theory, sports science and the development of important life skills.

Each group gained valuable preparation for their A Level examinations in the Summer by preparing the full meal and submitting a report.

Mr Medway said:

“From a passing chat, I was inspired to introduce air fryer cooking into our A Level Diet and Nutrition lessons, and it has been fantastic to see this evolve.

“The group really embraced the project and it smelt wonderful in the classroom as they cooked up a storm!”

Keira, a Lower Sixth pupil, said:

“I was looking forward to this lesson for ages. Learning about diet and nutrition has been very interesting and I enjoyed the cooking aspect of this section, as I was able to prove to myself and my class that I can actually cook something decent and edible!

“My partner and I worked well as a team to be able to provide a suitable meal for a pre competition performer which would benefit and provide the athlete with plenty of energy.”

Read more local stories from Your Harrogate here.

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