麻花影视comments on new government nutrition advice for early years settings

A new series of example menus and associated guidance, developed to support early years settings has been published today. The menus are designed to offer food and drink in line with current government dietary recommendations for infants and children aged 6 months to 4 years. They include example menus and useful information for early years settings to help show how they can meet the Early Years Foundation Stage welfare requirement to provide 鈥榟ealthy, balanced and nutritious鈥 meals for children.

Commenting the new menus, Michael Freeston, director of quality improvement at the Pre-school Learning Alliance, part of the initiative鈥檚 expert review group and a founding partner of the Early Years Nutrition (EYN) Partnership, said:

鈥淕ood nutrition is a vital part of both learning and development, and we are confident that these menus, which were based on a thorough review of early years nutrition and took into account the viewpoints of settings and experts across the sector, will prove welcome additions to the excellent food already being served in the majority of settings. 



鈥淭hese menus will support settings with either practiced chefs or novice cooks and should help providers put quality nutrition at the heart of what they do, something becoming ever more challenging in the current funding climate. Nutrition in the early years is so important to ensuring young children go on to live healthy lives and is a vital part of cognitive development. We hope that these menus will become a cornerstone of the daily life of settings across the country, something the 麻花影视will be working to support member settings to achieve.鈥

ENDS

 

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

  • The Pre-school Learning 麻花影视is the largest and most representative early years membership organisation in England. A registered educational charity, it also provides high-quality affordable childcare and education to support children and families in areas of deprivation throughout the country.
  • The 麻花影视represents 14,000 member settings and supports them to deliver care and learning to more than 800,000 families every year. We deliver family learning projects, offer information and advice, produce specialist publications, run acclaimed training and accreditation schemes and campaign to influence early years policy and practice.
  •  The 麻花影视website is