Food & Drink Policy

Statement of Intent

This pre-school regards snack and meal times as an important part of the pre-school’s session. Eating represents a social time for children and adults and helps children to learn about healthy eating.

Aim

At snack times we provide milk and water to drink. Parents are asked to supply a small healthy snack daily.

Methods

 Before a child starts to attend the pre-school, we find out from parents their children’s dietary needs, including any allergies.

 We record information about each child’s dietary needs in her/his registration record and parents sign the record to signify that it is correct.

 We regularly consult with parents to ensure that our records of their children’s dietary needs – including any allergies – are up-to-date.

 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 which is consistent with their dietary needs and their parents’ wishes.

 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 through adult led activities.

 We organise meal and snack times so that they are social occasions in which children and staff participate.

 We use meal and snack times to help children to develop independence through making choices, serving food and drink and feeding themselves.

 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 session. Parents also provide water bottles.

 We inform parents who provide food for their children about storage facilities available in the pre-school.

 We give parents who provide food for their children information about suitable containers for food.

 We have rules about children sharing and swapping their food with one another in order to protect children with food allergies.

 For children who drink milk, we provide whole and pasteurised milk.