Leaving Lancing Programme

Preparing for Life after Lancing

The Leaving Lancing programme plays an important part in our Sixth Formers’ timetable. The programme is in place to offer members of the Upper Sixth a chance to further develop some skills and prepare for their time after they leave the College.

This year the programme included a carousel of four activities: practical cooking, street safety and self-defence, healthy living and student budgeting/ financial advice.

One of the first sessions this term was a cooking demonstration given by the College’s Head Chef, Dean Drewe. Dean showed the students how to sharpen knives and safely chop vegetables, then moved on to cook a basic beef and vegetables mix that can be used to create a myriad of dishes. In front of the pupils Dean created spaghetti with a Bolognese sauce, chilli con carne, a curry and a burrito. The smell in the Theatre was fantastic!

At the end of the demonstration Dean answered questions, before the students left with a goodie bag containing recipes of the meals they were shown, some brownies and an officially branded vegetable peeler so they will always be able to remember the College when preparing vegetables!

Pupil Maya Richardson writes: ‘We attended sessions on street safety, healthy living, networking and finance, all of which were a good introduction to life beyond Lancing. Perhaps the most popular of the sessions was the cooking demonstration and subsequent cooking practice. As we move on after Lancing we won’t have the privilege of three cooked meals provided every day for us, so this demonstration was especially useful. Chef showed tricks to mince garlic, peel carrots and how to best use leftovers. We were gifted recipe cards to take away, with instructions and ways to use the basic ingredients again for other meals so leftovers would not go to waste. In the following weeks we put to practice what we had learnt as we cooked the recipe in groups, finishing with a tasting session at the end. It was such a beneficial task as it was a proactive and practical way to ensure we had understood what we had seen demonstrated.’

DR RICHARD BUSTIN Leaving Lancing Lead

“It was really interesting to watch a professional chef cook a favourite recipe then transform it in many different meals. Afterwards we had fun cooking in House while learning a valuable skill at the same time. I found the sessions very useful for our transition to university life.”

FREDDIE PRITCHARD Upper Sixth