Breakfast at nursery is an ideal option for working parents, or for those whose children need a little longer after waking up before being able to eat a decent breakfast. Some children, who are dropped off as early as 7.30am, may have consumed nothing but a drink of water or milk. Others, who arrive a little later, may have already had breakfast and will want to play – and some will be ready for a second breakfast when they arrive.
To cater for this, many providers offer a rolling breakfast programme where children have access to cereal, toast, fruit – and sometimes porridge – over a set time period.
Whatever the scenario, it is a well-known fact that breakfast is a crucial meal of the day and should not be skipped. The Voluntary Food and Drink Guidelines for Early Years Settings in England stresses the importance of good food in the early years, and studies suggest that children who eat breakfast perform better at school, and behave better, in contrast to those who don’t eat anything for breakfast.
Children’s Food Trust senior nutritionist Claire Wall says, ‘With more children spending more time in childcare, this means it’s never been more important to liaise with parents to make sure that children always eat breakfast, and to give parents clear information and support on what makes a good breakfast, whether that’s being provided at home or at nursery.’
A ROLLING BREAKFAST
At The Garden Nursery & Pre-School in Hove, East Sussex, breakfast is included in the childcare costs, which potentially means that up to 84 children could turn up for a 7.30am breakfast each day, explains nursery manager Leilah Scully.
‘In reality, there are usually only ten children who turn up at 7.30am, many of whom are dropped off by their parents before they commute into London. And about 40 in total for breakfast,’ she says.
A rolling breakfast of cereal, porridge, milk and water is served between 7.30 and 8am by practitioners, who arrive early on a rotational basis, Ms Scully says.
‘Most of the preparation is done the previous night. Practitioners lay the tables and put out the cereal. Children are encouraged to self-select, but if they want porridge, a practitioner will heat up the milk for them. The chef arrives at the nursery at 7.15am, but his work is to prepare lunch and the evening meal; he orders the breakfast food in a weekly Tesco shop.’
The nursery has adapted its breakfast offering over the years to cater for parents’ needs and to meet the nutritional needs of the children. ‘For example, we started out by offering beans on wholemeal toast for breakfast, but we found that not only was it quite busy for staff to manage at this time in the morning, but parents also didn’t request it,’ says Ms Scully. ‘We also stopped serving toast because we found that children were having quite a lot of carbs at other times in the day.’
HOME FROM HOME
According to Kelly Brooker, deputy head at Brookhill Nursery School in East Barnet, the key to providing a good breakfast at nursery is ‘keeping it simple’. She explains, ‘A well as providing children with a nutritionally balanced breakfast, settings should also think about making the environment as welcoming as possible, with key members of staff focusing on settling the children into the start of their day in a nurturing way.’
At the 78-place nursery school, which also provides childcare for 16 two-year-olds, up to ten children attend the breakfast club on a daily basis. Ms Brooker says, ‘There’s an additional cost to attend the breakfast club and it’s proved to be an attractive offering for working parents or if parents have a one-off early start. We provide a selection of cereals with wholemeal toast and spreads such as butter and jam, along with a selection of fruit.
‘We have modelled our breakfast area on the family home. There are curtains hanging in the window, a tablecloth with flowers and a fruit bowl. For children who may have already eaten breakfast, there is a selection of board games that you would find in a family home, such as Connect 4. Permanent members of staff run the breakfast club, which is very important, because they know the children and their needs.
‘The breakfast is very low maintenance and easy to prepare, which makes it a relaxed, special time of the day when children get lots of one-to-one interaction with the staff.’
HEALTHY BREAKFAST OPTIONS
The national guidelines for food in childcare advise that starchy foods should always be included as part of breakfast, with a variety of different starchy foods, and a mix of wholemeal and white options across the week.
Choose cereals which have low or medium sugar content (shown as ‘green’ or ‘amber’ on front of pack labels) – and avoid those which are sugar-coated or chocolate-flavoured.
Offer children fruit or vegetables with breakfast every day.
Great breakfast examples would be porridge with dried apricots and banana; wheat biscuits with milk; half a toasted teacake with spread and mixed berries; or a hard-boiled egg with wholemeal bread and some pear.
WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST?
A typical breakfast menu at Naturally Learning:
Assorted cereals with milk, toast selection, or fruit medley/a piece of fresh fruit from our fruit bowl.
For example, each day there would be a selection of the below:
- A selection of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries with natural yoghurt.
- Wholemeal toast with cream cheese and fresh pineapple cubes.
- Homemade banana bread.
- Homemade cheesy oatcakes with cucumber and apple slices.
- Toast fingers, natural yoghurt (for dipping), banana slices and strawberries.
- Pancakes with blueberries, strawberry or bananas.
CASE STUDY: NATURALLY LEARNING, TRURO
Freshly baked muffins with blueberries and homemade cheesy oatcakes are just some of the breakfast options available at Naturally Learning in Truro, one of a chain of three nurseries in Cornwall.
When the setting opened in January 2015, only a trickle of children came in for the rolling breakfast option, which takes place between 8am and 9am, even though it was included in the nursery fees. Today, almost all the 50 children who attend the nursery have a spot at the table and enjoy a healthy breakfast in a relaxed, sociable environment. In fact, demand is so popular, with funded and unfunded children alike, that the nursery is considering opening its doors at the earlier time of 7.30am – and even providing hot substitutes such as scrambled eggs on toast.
Owner Mandy Richardson says, ‘Food is at the heart of everything we do here. We grow and eat our own vegetables. Every daily menu has an option that was prepared or baked by the children and our staff are not only involved in food preparation but they also eat and socialise with the children at mealtimes. We also have a chef at each setting who prepares healthy options for the children to enjoy at breakfast times. Pancake mixture is prepared the night before and served on a Friday morning, and children have a mix of homemade breads, muffins, cheesy oatcakes and breadsticks to enjoy during the week.
‘As we are based in the City of Truro, many working parents are keen to drop their children off earlier and for them to eat a healthy breakfast at nursery so that they can get to work. However, even in my other nursery, which is in a more deprived area, this option is just as important because many arrive not having had breakfast and it’s such a vital part of the day; which sets them up for learning.’
Despite the recent announcement of a funding cut of two pence per child in Cornwall, and the forthcoming introduction of the 30 hours a week of funded places which will place an even bigger squeeze on nursery owners, Mrs Richardson says, ‘Food is my passion and I do not want to compromise the healthy choices I provide and go down the route that some other local nurseries are being forced to consider, where they ask families to bring in a portion of fruit to share at snacktimes.
‘We have to watch the budget but we’ve started buying from a local wholesaler, which cuts out the middle man and is a bit cheaper. They deliver the food daily or weekly. We also use local fruit and vegetable suppliers and local butchers. This often involves time looking around to get the best deals, and having traceable meat is expensive –but it is our USP.
‘We also try to buy seasonal produce; we grow quite a bit in the garden and we have our own chickens that children collect the eggs from each morning.’
