Nursery World - Nursery Management: Nutrition - Tap into good food guidelines

In the absence of governmental criteria for nursery meals, Mary Whiting recommends checking out the Caroline Walker Trust, which has a wealth of good advice and resources on eating well for under-fives.

Nursery staff are 'crying out' for guidelines on food and drink for under-fives. Certainly, there are no official (ie governmental) guidelines, although plans for recommendations for all childcare settings in England are at last in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, excellent and comprehensive guidelines do exist, produced by the Caroline Walker Trust (CWT). Although the CWT guidelines are not 'official', they have an impeccable background and the advice is sound and practical. Almost any nursery would benefit from having a copy. Indeed, one would hope the promised official advice will be as good. It was the nutrient-based guidance for school meals produced by the CWT that the DfS adopted in 2005.

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