Policy Statement
Mealtimes should be a happy, social occasion for children, with positive interactions shared and enjoyed. Ladybird Pre-School Nursery is committed to offering children healthy, nutritious and balanced meals and snacks which meet their individual needs and requirements. We work with parents/carers to encourage them to provide their child with a healthy and nutritious lunch. WE HAVE A NO NUTS POLICY THROUGHOUT THE NURSERY.
Procedures
We follow these procedures to promote healthy eating at Ladybird Pre-School Nursery:
- Before a child starts to attend the Nursery, we find out from parents/carers their children’s dietary needs and preferences, including any allergies.
- A medical practitioner’s letter is required to confirm the food allergy and the procedure to follow if food which the child is allergic to is consumed.
- We follow this medical procedure to create a care plan and carry out a risk assessment where necessary.
- Information is recorded about each child’s dietary needs on her/his registration form and parents/carers sign the record to signify that it is correct.
- We consult annually with all parents/carers to ensure that our records of their children’s dietary needs – including any allergies – are up-to-date. Parents/carers sign the up-dated record to signify that it is correct.
- We display current information about individual children’s dietary needs and their individual care plans in the kitchen so that all staff, volunteers and students are fully informed about them.
- We implement systems to ensure that children receive only food and drink that is consistent with their dietary needs and their parents’/carers’ wishes.
- We provide nutritious food for all snacks, avoiding large quantities of saturated fat, sugar and salt and artificial additives, preservatives and colourings.
- We include foods from the diet of each of the children’s cultural backgrounds, providing children with familiar foods and introducing them to new ones.
- We have a NO NUTS policy throughout the Nursery. No food containing nuts or nut products are brought into Nursery by staff, volunteers, students or children for their personal consumption.
- Through discussion with parents/carers and research reading by staff, we obtain information about the dietary rules of the religious groups to which children and their parents/carers belong. We also respect and adhere to individual dietary preferences. We take account of this information in the provision of food and drinks.
- We require staff to show sensitivity in providing for children’s diets and allergies. Staff do not use a child’s diet or allergy as a label for the child or make a child feel singled out because of her/his diet or allergy.
- We organise snack and meal times so that they are social occasions in which children and staff participate.
- We use snack and meal times to help children to develop independence through making choices, serving food and drink and feeding themselves.
- We provide children with utensils that are appropriate for their ages and stages of development and that take account of the eating practices in their cultures.
- We have fresh drinking water constantly available for the children. We inform the children about how to obtain the water and that they can ask for water at any time during the day.
- We inform parents/carers who provide food for their children’s snack or lunch about the storage facilities available in the Nursery.
- We give parents/carers who provide food for their children information about suitable containers for their snack and lunch.
- In order to protect children with food allergies, we discourage children from sharing and swapping their food with one another.
- For children who drink milk, we provide semi skimmed pasteurised milk.
- Only staff members who hold a Level 2 Food Hygiene/Food Safety qualification will prepare snacks and meals for the children.
