Sector bodies take over Children's Food Trust programmes
Monday, October 2, 2017
Action for Children and the British Dietetics Association (BDA) are continuing some aspects of the Children’s Food Trust work, which closed last week.
The charity and trade union have announced they will keep the Children’s Food Trust’s (CFT) legacy for keeping children healthy alive by taking on responsibility for its national food and drink guidelines.
Nursery World reported in July that the CFT was due to close after running for 11 years because it was facing difficulties due to the ‘economic and financial climate’.
Action for Children will now lead on the CFT’s ‘Eat Better, Start Better’ programme, designed to improve the food served in nurseries and by childminders. It has also become the guardian of the ‘Voluntary Food and Drink Guidelines for Early Years Settings in England’.
The BDA has taken over the running of the CFT’s ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ programme, a network of school and community-based clubs developed to help children and their families gain the skills and knowledge to cook healthy meals from scratch. It has also taken over responsibility of the CFT’s Learning Network, an e-learning platform with 18 courses related to improving food for children.
Sue Robb, head of early years at Action for Children, said, ‘We are extremely proud and very excited to be taking over ‘Eat Better, Start Better’ from the Children’s Food Trust, which has revolutionised the way the early years sector thinks about and prepares meals for children. Good food has a vital role to play in nutrition and child development, as well as in bringing families together to prepare and eat healthy meals - starting habits that will last a lifetime.’
Andy Burman, chief executive of the BDA, said, ‘This is the time to acknowledge the amazing achievements of the Children’s Food Trust and for us to show our commitment to continuing the excellent work completed so far. Our relationship with food has never been more important and the BDA is determined to lead the way through the resources and opportunities now open to us.’
The former chief executive of the Children’s Food Trust, Linda Cregan, said, ‘Over the last 11 years, with the commitment and passion of an amazing team, we have worked tirelessly to get children eating well. We have shared the skills, knowledge and confidence to cook from scratch, helping anyone who provides food for children to do a great job and encouraging industry to help families make better food choices. I am really proud of what we have achieved and pleased that the good work we started will continue in some way thanks to Action for Children and the BDA.’
