Nottinghamshire nurseries chosen to help flght childhood obesity
Nicole Weinstein
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Seven nurseries in Nottinghamshire have been nominated to take part in a government-funded childhood obesity project, supported by the Soil Association’s Food for Life programme.
Learning Tree Nursery 2, Creative Hands Childcare, Serendipitys Day Nursery in Newark, and Kidzgrove Daycare have already started contributing to the three-year national Childhood Obesity Trailblazer project, which was rolled out in September. The remaining three nurseries have yet to be named.
Food for Life, the charity that supports schools and early years settings to promote healthy food, will be working with the nurseries to help reconnect children with where their food comes from. The team will also review menus and improve the nutritional quality of meals and support cooks to serve fresh, local meals to the children in their care.
The Food for Life Early Years Award, which is a framework to provide the best possible start to children’s food journey, will be given out to the nurseries over the course of the three years.
During this time, they will be supported to provide tasty, nutritious meals in an environment that creates great social skills. They will also work hard to encourage good food habits for life, through practical cooking and growing activities and food-based learning - both for children and their parents and carers.
The initial Childhood Obesity Trailblazer work will be focused on areas in Nottinghamshire with the highest levels of childhood obesity, including Bassetlaw, Mansfield and Ashfield Districts. The partnership brings together the skills and expertise from public health, early years and school catering, children’s centre services, childcare and early years providers, and importantly, local parents.
Other partners that will be contributing to the project include Family Action and Loughborough University.
Nottinghamshire County Council are one of five trailblazer authorities involved in the national childhood obesity programme, which is jointly funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England and managed by the Local Government Association.
The five areas have been awarded £100,000 a year over three years to help them to test and refine their ideas for addressing childhood obesity and health inequalities.
Th other local authorities taking part are Bradford, Blackburn with Darwen, Lewisham, and Birmingham.
