Nurseries are being encouraged to register for the award

Nurseries encouraged to nurture healthy awards

Private Day Nurseries in Tamworth are to become the first Early Years providers in the county to trial a new Healthy Award Scheme.

Developed by the Eat Well in Staffordshire Partnership, the Nurturing Health Award scheme has been developed to support those working in the Early Years sector to provide a varied, safe and balanced diet for children in the their care.

The partnership is made up of a group of Local Authority and NHS representatives throughout Staffordshire, including the county council and South Staffordshire PCT.  During the next few weeks nurseries in Tamworth are being contacted to encourage them to register for the award.

The Nurturing Health Award closely links to government nutritional guidelines for schools and voluntary guidelines and has been broken down into a number of areas which nurseries are expected to achieve including food safety and hygiene, oral health, eating and drinking well and learning and physical activities - all of which are conductive to supporting children and their families in adopting a healthier lifestyle. 

County Councillor Carol Dean, Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities said: "There are a number of benefits for nurseries who agree to work towards achieving this award which include demonstrating that they place great importance on the health and wellbeing of children in their care and that they are providing food and meals of a high nutritional standard approved by health and local government organisations in Staffordshire.

"Many early years children spend significant amounts of time in nursery settings. This puts nursery staff in an ideal position to have a positive influence, not only on the food intake and choices of children, but also on developing the awareness and attitudes that children have towards food and health from a young age.

"One element that the award specifically sets out to address is the nutritional requirements of under 5s with emphasis on portion sizes.  Previous guidance has not focused on this and research has shown that even though younger children are being fed healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables, the amount they are given can often be too much, leading to displacement of other important foods. Through clear guidance, this scheme can address this and steer childcare providers in the right direction."

The award will include three levels to differentiate between good, very good and excellent settings and successful nurseries will receive a certificate and appropriate promotion to publicise this. Following the Tamworth pilot, the scheme will then be rolled out throughout the county.

For more information about the scheme contact Lucy Gratton or Nicola Day on 01785 277889. Page Last Modified: 08/10/2008 09:18:56

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