You can download the digital awards book here
Mealtimes at Portland House Nursery in Huddersfield are happy, calm and social occasions with shared conversation. Practitioners use meal and snack times to further learning experiences, role model and bond with their key children and to help promote independence through making choices, serving food and drink and feeding themselves. Children are involved in the setting of tables, serving and clearing away, with pre-school children often taking on the role of ‘mealtime monitor’.
Staff want mealtimes to be leisurely, with children given time to finish their food, so in the larger rooms there are two sittings for lunch in order to keep group sizes smaller and more intimate. There is also an outdoor dining area and children enjoy eating around a camp fire.
Mealtimes are used as an opportunity to promote positive discussion around food. The culturally diverse menus allow great opportunities for staff and children to discuss other cultures and talk about a variety of ingredients they may not be offered at home. Staff often place a raw vegetable appearing in the recipe on the dining table as a ‘conversation starter’. This allows children to understand and appreciate what somefood items look like naturally and how to identify them in the garden or supermarket.
While some meat, fish and dairy is served, the nursery menus are predominantly vegan and are produced onsite with local produce by an experienced chef. Menus are planned with parent and staff suggestions and change to reflect seasons and cultural diversity. They do not include processed foods and provide a low-salt diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables.
‘Science Kitchens’ in the nursery rooms with working electric ovens allow small, focused groups of children to join Cooking Club and cook recipes from the nursery’s menus to take home and share. Children also get hands-on, growing and harvesting vegetables and herbs to educate them on the process of ‘seed to plate’ and sustainability.
JUDGES’ VIEW
This nursery demonstrates a strong vision for a healthy food culture inspired by research and a passion to provide the best food foundations for young children. Meals are prepared by the passionate and capable chef who takes great pride in feeding children well, preparing everything from scratch without processed foods.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Grass Roots Private Day Nursery – Sowerby
The nursery caters for a diversity of families, including those in food poverty. Judges said chef Ryan and kitchen assistant Julie are ‘exemplary’ in supporting children and parents by offering food packs and recipes, and a community larder and cafe.
FINALISTS
• Acorn Early Years – Milton Keynes; Northamptonshire; Bedfordshire
• Woodlands Day Nursery, Elmscot Group – Altrincham
CRITERION
Open to early years settings whose approach to and provision of food promotes health and wellbeing.
