Food provision wins awards for nurseries
Nurseries in Sefton, Merseyside, have been commended for the nutritious meals they provide.
Sefton council devised the Appetite for Life awards to recognise childcare providers' competence in the food they serve children.
The award is open to private, voluntary and independent settings that are not part of a chain.
Seven nurseries were presented with the award by the Mayor of Sefton Paul Tweed and assistant environmental protection director Peter Moore at Southport Town Hall earlier this month.
Mr Moore said, 'The challenge for those providing food for the under-fives is to help children to achieve good health while still providing tasty enjoyable food.'
The nurseries had been invited to apply for the award by the council's environmental protection department in partnership with Sefton Early Years, Sefton and Liverpool Primary Care Trusts and the Heart of Mersey.
Nurseries took part in a training course on nutrition, food allergies and menu planning organised by the council, for which they had to meet strict criteria.
They were assessed on children's dental health, how they produced food plans for children with allergies, how they ensured good practice in personal hygiene, food hygiene and healthy eating.
Patricia Haines, manager of Gingerbread House Pre-school, one of the award winners, said, 'The scheme was hard work in one sense, but very eye-opening and rewarding, being able to provide the children with a healthy diet.'
She added, 'The hardest part was getting rid of birthday cakes, but now we make more of a fuss of the children's birthdays. We have an artificial cake, the child gets a special snack and we have balloons and banners.'
The council will continue to promote the scheme to the nurseries who failed to gain the award and re-assess settings who were successful as part of their environmental health inspection.
