Healthy Eating
At Sherwood Green Nursery, we promote healthy eating. We recognise the important part a healthy diet plays for a child’s wellbeing and their ability to learn and achieve. We believe that the nursery, in partnership with parents and carers, can make a major contribution to improving children’s and young children’s health by increasing their knowledge and understanding of food and helping them to make healthy food choices. We aim to ensure that healthier food and drink is provided at all times of day, taking account of individual needs (e.g. cultural, ethical, medical).
At Sherwood Green, we have nursery chef on the premises all day with an in-depth understanding of nutrition and food hygiene. The Nursery chef use high-quality meat, fruit and vegetables to provide freshly prepared meals daily which include vegetarian options. Babies home feeding routines are continued in the nursery and we work alongside parents to introduce a successful weaning programme.
Mealtimes are a social occasion and an opportunity for children and staff to interact within our family environment. Children are encouraged to try new foods and widen their knowledge and tastes. During meal times, we create a relaxed, homely environment, using tablecloths, centrepieces and gentle music. We sit with the children and encourage them to be inquisitive about food and healthy eating.
In September 2022 we were awarded a 5 Star rating given by Food Standards Agency for very good standards in food hygiene. The rating is based on a review of systems and processes as well as the actual practice the inspector sees on the day of their ‘no notice inspection’.
MENU
We devise varied menu plans each season reflecting diverse cultures to broaden our children’s experience of the wider world. Nursery Manager has completed her training on providing healthy and nutritious meals and snacks, and used guidelines from this training to compile a four-week menu. The menu complies with the guidelines on providing a balance nutrition for children.
The Nursery menu includes a variety of foods from the four main food groups:
• Meat, fish and protein alternatives
• Dairy foods
• Grains, cereals and starch vegetables
• Fruit and vegetables
The Nursery takes care not to provide foods which contain nuts or nut products and is especially vigilant where we have a child or adult who has a known allergy to nuts. No matter what your child’s dietary requirements, we’ll make sure they are eating delicious, healthy meals. If your child has a food allergy or intolerance, we will cater for them safely.
Sherwood Green Nursery provides three meals and two snacks in between them.
• Breakfast is at 8:00am – 9:00am , to ensure that everyone have had a breakfast.
• Morning snack is at 10am
• Lunch is at 11.30
• Afternoon snack is at 2pm
• Tea is at 4pm
We offer fresh fruit and vegetables everyday for a snack and all other meals enhanced with wide offer of fresh and cooked vegetables and salads. We provide easily accessible water and milk throughout the day and rolling snack where children have choices of eating different fruit/vegetables.
Nursery staff will provide feedback to parents regarding how their children have eaten through Parent Blossom App or verbal accounts at the end of child’s day.
Parents can request a copy of the menu from the Nursery Manager or download on our nursery website.
