Food and Drink Policy

Statement of intent

Sticky Mits regards snack and meal times as an important part of the setting’s day. Eating represents a social time for children and adults and helps children to learn about healthy eating.

Aim

At snack and meal times we aim to provide nutritious food, which meets the children’s individual dietary needs. We aim to meet the full requirements of the National Standards for Day Care on Food and Drink.

Methods

• Before a child starts to attend the setting, we find out from parents their children’s dietary needs and preferences, including all allergies.
• We record information about each child’s dietary needs in his/her registration records and parents sign the record to signify that this is correct.
• We regularly consult with parents to ensure that our records of their children’s dietary needs-including allergies- are up to date. Parents sign up-dated record to signify that it is correct.
• We display current information about individual children's dietary needs so that all staff and volunteers 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 preferences as well as their parent's wishes.
• We plan our menus in advance, involving children and parents in the planning.
• We provide nutritious food at all meals and snacks, avoiding large quantities of saturated fat, sugar and salt and artificial additives, preservatives and colourings.
• We include a varity of food from four main food groups;
  • Meat fish and protein alternatives
  • Dairy foods;
  • Grains, cereals and starchy vegetables
  • Fruit and vegetables
• We include foods from the diet of each of the children's cultural backgrounds, providing children with familiar foods and introducing new ones.
• We take care not to provide food containing nuts or nut products, and are especially vigilant where we have a child who has a known allergy to nuts.
• Through discussion with parents and research reading by staff, we obtain information about dietary rules of the religious groups, to which children and their parents belong, and of vegetarians and vegans and about food allergies. We take account of this information in the provision of food and drinks.
• We provide a vegetarian alternative on days when meat or fish are offered.
• 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 the child singled out because of her/his diet or allergy.
• We organize meals and snack times so that they are social occasions in which children and staff participate.
• We use meal and snack times to help children develop independence through making choices, and feeding themselves.
• We provide children with utensils that are appropriate for their age and stage of development and that take into account the eating practices in their culture.
• 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 anytime during the day.
• We inform parents who provide food for their children about the storage facilities available in the setting.
• We give parents who provide food for their children information about suitable containers for food.
• In order to protect children with food allergies, we have rules about children sharing and swapping their food with one another.
• For children who drink milk, we provide whole pasteurized milk.

Cooked lunches

We will provide the children with a cooked lunch, supplied by Juniorganics.

• We ensure that the meals are heated thoroughly.
• We ensure that the meals are offered to the children at an appropriate temperature.
• Ensure staff sit with the children while they eat their lunch so that meals are a sociable occasion.