Food
Healthy Eating, Healthy Children
We are passionate about promoting a healthy lifestyle and encouraging every child to eat well, enjoy a varied diet and establish healthy eating habits.
We are proud to be the first setting in Bristol and South Gloucestershire to gain Accredited Early Years Nutrition Partnership Status (EYNP), achieving this in 2018. Since then, we have gone on to be awarded Advanced level certification in 2019.
Our Nursery Cook, Dawn, prepares fresh snacks and meals in our kitchen. Dawn has achieved a level 2 qualification in Nutrition and Hydration as part of her work with EYNP.
Our Menus
Since 2017 we have been working with a nutritionist to develop our menus.
Our 4-week menus ensure that food is not only nutritious but delicious, with exciting flavours to help develop children’s’ pallets.
By following ‘Eat Better Start Better’ government guidelines we ensure that dishes are low in salt and sugar, and that children are receiving enough energy from their food. We work hard to provide fruit and milk-based desserts so that children do not get accustomed to very sweet foods. Our staff follow advice on portion sizes and presentation of the food.
Our best critics are the children themselves! Before any menu is launched it is sampled by children and staff to gain feedback. Having a talented nursery cook means that we can be as flexible as needed.
Tailoring menus to ensure that food is safe in respect of the 14 known allergens, we can give you confidence that our meals can comply if your child has food allergies or dietary requirements.
We are also keen to support dietary variety, exposing children to different tastes and textures. By trying more plant-based meals; built around beans, lentils, vegetables and whole grains we can introduce the health benefits of eating less meat and can also be more environmentally friendly.
A positive food experience
It is very important to us that children have a positive food experience.
Where possible, we involve the children in helping to prepare food and snacks. The older children help to set tables for mealtimes and all children help to serve themselves or each other, promoting their independence and social skills.
Meals are a social time. Staff and children sit down and eat together; talking about the food and where it comes from and encouraging table manners. This is a great time to simply enjoy the different colours, flavours and aromas that are all part of the positive eating and learning process.
