Date: Autumn 2021
Review date: Autumn 2024
At Ash Grange Nursery and Primary School, we recognise the important part that a healthy diet plays in a child’s well-being and ability to learn and achieve effectively. In partnership with parents and carers, we believe that the school can significantly contribute to improving children’s health by increasing their knowledge and understanding of food and helping them make healthy food choices.
The Department of Education launched a new set of mandatory standards for all food served within schools from January 2015. It has also been written to reflect the Eatwell Plate Model of Healthy Eating and supports key outcomes of the School Food Plan. The policy supports Ofsted’s commitments to assess pupils’ knowledge of keeping themselves healthy and our school’s ethos of healthy eating.
This policy covers the areas of:
The policy applies to all staff, pupils, parents, governors and partner agencies working within the school.
All Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 children are provided daily fruit or vegetables as part of the Government scheme.
We offer a healthy snack bar, which the children run at a minimal cost.
Any snacks are from home will be restricted to fruit or vegetables unless recommended by a doctor on medical grounds (e.g. dietary need, diabetes etc.)
Our school provides a mandatory milk scheme for all pupils, following Government guidelines. Parents are invited to register and pay for their child to participate in this scheme, which provides a carton (189ml or 1/3 of a pint ) of semi-skimmed milk every day for Foundation Stage 2 and Key Stage 1 children and a carton of full-fat milk for Nursery children. Parents can specify if an alternative type of milk is required, e.g. soya. Children in Nursery and those families in receipt of Free School Meal are eligible for free milk.
Clean filtered drinking water will be available for all pupils throughout the day, and pupils will be encouraged to drink water at frequent intervals. All packed lunch pupils have access to water at lunchtime, meaning there is no need for an additional drink in their packed lunch. Pupils are encouraged to bring a water bottle every day that they can refill as necessary. Bottles go home at the end of every day to be washed and returned.
No drinks other than water will be brought into school by pupils unless recommended by a doctor for medical needs.
At Ash Grange Nursery and Primary School, meals are prepared following the government nutritional guidelines, as stated in the Public Health Report, published in 2014, by Public Health England and the NAHT. “A whole-school approach to healthy school meals, universally implemented for all pupils, has shown improvements in academic attainment at key stages 1 and 2, especially for pupils with lower prior attainment.”
We will provide Universal Free School Meals for children in Foundation Stage two and Key Stage 1 and encourage parents to take this offer. We are committed to providing food that is compliant with all national guidelines.
Staff will work with children to provide a clean, safe, attractive and appropriate dining area. We believe that lunchtimes should foster the caring, friendly ethos that governs everything that we do. (Children are encouraged to be independent during the meal and clearing up after themselves at the end by tidying their plates and cutlery away.)
Some families prefer to provide a packed lunch, and we expect packed lunches to be as healthy as possible. If children have a packed lunch, our packed lunch guidance supports parents to make informed choices to create it healthily.
Packed lunches provided for school trips as part of our Free School Meal provision comply with National Food Standards.
Any meals taken as part of on or off school site residentials will provide a balanced and healthy approach to meals, and where possible, we will look to use off-site providers that comply with the National Food Standards.
Food, its production and preparation is an integral part of the curriculum for all pupils and is taught across the curriculum through Science, PHSE, PE and Design and Technology. We re-enforce our delivery of the national curriculum by holding a healthy schools week annually, which enables us to focus on all aspects of well being including healthy eating.
Appropriate food safety precautions are taken when food is prepared or stored. These vary depending on the food on offer and include: ensuring that adequate storage and washing facilities are available; that food handlers undergo appropriate food hygiene training; and that suitable equipment and protective clothing are available. Any food safety hazards are identified and controlled. We consult our local Environmental Health Department about legal requirements.
Food provision at our breakfast and after school club and holiday club is compliant with the National School Food Standards. Relevant staff have basic food hygiene and preparation certification. Children in the clubs have regular opportunities to prepare and cook healthy snacks, and there are regular opportunities to discuss healthy eating as part of their general activities.
Families are not permitted to bring food to school for birthdays or events in the school year as there are too many risks for the children intolerant to ingredients.
We consult bi-annually with our caterers, pupil council and staff and involve them in reviewing school meals. The results are to evaluate the impact of the food policy and to improve school meals further