Nursery World Awards 2022 - Nursery Food

You can download the digital Awards book here

At Each Peach Forest School, staff are committed to providing healthy and nutritious food to all children.

The onsite chef includes all the children’s special requests and favourites when building menus, but also encourages children to eat a wide variety of foods. Menus conform to the voluntary food guidelines and are audited by the local authority HALO coordinator.

Allergies and dietary preferences are managed through careful planning, with the chef aware of all the different needs and when those children are present in the nursery.

Snacks and mealtimes are a vital part of the learning day, with children chopping up their own snacks and choosing for themselves what they would like to eat and when.

Independence is promoted at meal times by providing small, easy to hold jugs so the children can pour their own drinks. They also help to set the tables, putting tablecloths out, laying the knives and forks and making sure everyone has a cup. A self-service system allows children to decide how much they have on their plate, regulating their own needs.

Nursery teachers have a place at the table to model table manners and encourage conversation about what food is being eaten. A large canteen and kitchen area means the chef can also engage in conversation with children about the recipes, ingredients and cooking process.

A range of different textures of food are offered and discussed, and teachers count with children how many pieces of food they have in their bowl and how many spoonfuls they are eating.

After mealtimes, children are encouraged to clear their plates and wash them up at self-care stations which support them with hygiene and cleanliness.

In the baby room, teachers sing nursery rhymes with babies during lunch to support communication and language. Before and after mealtimes teachers will support hand and face washing. Lunch and snacks are always dished up at the children’s level so they can see what is going onto their bowls.

With three acres of land, a large allotment on site supports a ‘seed to table’ ethos. Children help with planting and growing their own fruit and vegetables which they choose from the local garden centre themselves.

Children also take part in ‘Take Home Bakes’, making dough for bread rolls, scones or spring rolls then taking it home to be baked with family.

Staff display and send home a recipe of the week with money-saving suggestions to try at home, while termly parents’ cooking classes to encourage healthy eating, budgeting and portion sizes are due to begin later this year.

Children take part in group discussions of healthy eating, linking to stories like Oliver’s Fruit Salad, enjoy regular physical exercise and carry out role plays in the kitchen and mud kitchen.

JUDGE’S VIEW

Visiting Each Peach Forest School, our judge praised meals that were planned in line with Eat Better Start Better guidelines. Working with families was a real strength. The setting is in an area of deprivation and it supports families to access food banks and provides ingredients for home cooking activities. Families have access to the allotment and have attended the setting for menu tasting. They are also supported to breastfeed.

Children are able to chop up food for snack time alongside staff, with tables set up with tablecloths outside. Mealtimes are full of good conversations, with staff eating with children and role modelling and the chef based in the dining room.

FINALISTS

Willow Tree Day Nursery, Sale

Imperial College London Early Years

CRITERION

Open to early years settings whose approach to and provision of food promotes children’s health and well-being.