Nutrition and healthy eating

The EYFS, our national curriculum, places great emphasis on teaching children healthy habits. Therefore we have a well-balanced nursery menu, a copy of which is available in the nursery.

The menu is adjusted across the year depending on seasonal foods that are available as well as children’s preference. We provide breakfast, a mid-morning snack, a two-course lunch and tea at the nursery. This is included in the charges for all fee-paying parents and available as an optional extra for funded children if the parents choose hours covering meal times.

Meals included on our nursery menu are for example shepherd’s pie, macaroni and cheese, roast chicken and many others. The menu is a three-week rolling menu which means that your child will eat a healthy and varied diet.

Which meals do we provide?

At nursery we provide breakfast (which includes a variety of cereals and milk), a mid-morning fruit, vegetable snack or cheese and crackers, a two course lunch (which follows the guidelines above) including a pudding. In the afternoons we provide tea (a selection of more substantial snacks), which is designed to stop children from getting too hungry before they go home. Please note that tea supplied at nursery does not replace dinner or an evening snack at home

for most of our children.

Special Dietary Requirements

We operate a traffic light system at the nursery, which means that we provide food for different levels of allergies/parental preferences.

1. Allergies and Intolerances (medical diagnosis)

If a child has a medical diagnosis or intolerance to certain foods, we require a statement from

the doctor outlining the kinds of foods which may cause an allergic reaction to the child and

the correct medical procedures to follow in case of an allergic reaction. We will then discuss with parents how we can best meet the child’s needs in the nursery and design alternative meals in conjunction with parents. We will always try and ensure the food served is as similar as possible to that of the other children.

2. Parental Preference (no medical diagnosis)

We are happy to cater for basic parental preferences and aim to support parents in their decisions wherever possible. This includes providing vegetarian food or Halal meats or not giving children pork. If parents have a more complicated preference such as wishing their child to follow a gluten free diet, we may ask parents to supplement some of the nursery’s cost in purchasing additional “free from products”. We will discuss this with you on an individual basis.

Funded Children Meals

Families on funded places can choose not to pay for nursery meals. Parents of funded children can decide to send their children daily for 3 hours per day if they are not willing to

pay for the meals. These hours are between 8.30am – 11.30am or 1pm – 4pm which would cover 15 hours per week Monday to Friday. The nursery does not allow packed lunches due to

various food allergies of children.

Food Hygiene

Our nursery has been rated 5 stars for food hygiene within the last year. This means that you

can rest assured your child’s health is very important to us and we maintain high levels of food

and hygiene practices within the nursery. Our nursery chef follows all required procedures, monitoring food storage and cooking temperatures daily.