Food and Nutrition
We take great pride in our commitment to healthy food and nutrition. The quality of food is essential to our well-being, and we regard the responsibility of nourishing your child with the utmost seriousness. We advocate for organic where possible and fair trade practices while consciously opting to exclude refined sugars and processed foods from our offerings.
The children will always sit down to eat lunch and tea in ‘family’ groups. We will always eat with them, encouraging them to try new things and supporting them to learn independence and good table manners. Meal times provide opportunities for us to converse and reflect with them on the events and activities of their day as well as discussing the importance of nutrition.
Our food is always prepared from fresh on site by our chef. All of our ingredients are locally and seasonably sourced and organic where possible. We have a rotational seasonal menu so if your child attends only three times a week, they still get a varied diet at nursery. We ensure all of our menus are nutritionally balanced. Menus are displayed weekly on our parents’ board. We can cater for any special dietary requirements or allergies.
We want to teach children more about healthy lifestyles and encourage the adoption of healthy eating. Understanding the importance of nutrition is easier if children have been active participants in food preparation from a young age and if allowed to take opportunities to ask questions about what constitutes a healthy balanced diet. That's why we do cooking lessons at The Puddleduck Nursery.
Our policy is to:
Avoid refined sugars, but use molasses or fruit as natural sweeteners
Consider carefully the amount of sweet foods we are offering to children
Cut back on the amount of grain we offer children each day
Increase the ratio of vegetables to fruit
Use only fruit, vegetables, cheese and vegetable dips for Snack
Use fresh food not frozen
Avoid processed foods
Use organic where we can
Promote the drinking of water and cow’s milk (or preferred alternatives)
Favour free trade foods where economically viable
Champion locally sourced foods where we can
Offer meat, vegetarian and fish dishes to our omnivores
Provide excellent vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options
Promote composting
Avoid excess food waste
Consider packaging waste