Nursery World - Work Matters: Training: Nutrition

Nursery staff need to know about healthy food, says Calvin Hanks, lead nutrition and safety consultant at Acorn Childcare Training.

Health and well-being, including safe and healthy eating, is a vital requirement of the EYFS.

Many adult eating patterns have their roots in childhood, and nurseries can help lay the foundations for healthy eating by providing healthy food as a model. This can't just be by instinct, though - it has to be supported by training and ongoing monitoring of daily practice.

The key food concerns in nurseries are two-fold - first, to ensure that the food provided is as healthy as it can possibly be, and second, to ensure that the food provided is as safe as it can possibly be.

Many childcare courses don't include teaching on diet and healthy eating, or on planning and preparing food. It is therefore unsurprising that nursery staff may struggle with providing food for their charges, or may fall into bad habits. As a result, the children, although generally fed adequately, may not get the best diet possible, or may not have the opportunity to learn all they can about healthy food.

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