Packed meals and care consumables from home

At Blue Bell Woods our aim is to positively promote the health and well-being of every child. If you have chosen not to purchase our Consumables Bundles on days your child attends funded only hours, the following policy applies to all items supplied from home.

Packed Meals
To support healthy growth and development, children need a well-balanced, nutritious diet.
Establishing good eating habits in early childhood lays the foundation for lifelong health.
However, there is growing concern that many children are consuming excessive amounts of fat, sugar and salt, and not enough fibre, fruits, and vegetables.
At Blue Bell Woods, our aim is to positively promote the health and well-being of every child.
We aim to support your child to foster a healthy attitude to food and work with you to ensure your child benefits from a balanced diet.
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage nutrition guidance and take this into account to support a balanced diet that includes daily intake of the recommended food groups.

At Blue Bell Woods we require your child’s packed meals to be based on the NHS guidance ‘Healthier Families’ and for children over the age of two, the NHS ‘Eat Well’ Guide.
Therefore, your child’s food bag for meals provided for both lunch and tea are required to contain:
Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta – these starchy foods are a healthy source of energy. Packed meals should include 2 or more portions.
Fruit and Vegetables – these foods provide vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Packed meals should include at least 1 portion of fruit and 1 portion of vegetables / salad, or more.
Milk and Dairy foods – these foods provide calcium for healthy bones and teeth. Packed meals should include 1 portion at lunch.
Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans, Pulses – these foods provide protein for growth. Packed meals should include 1 portion of these foods.

Drinks are not permitted in packed meals as children will be provided with fresh drinking water throughout the day.

Breakfast
Families will be required to provide low-sugar, healthy cereals.

Snack
Families will be required to provide a daily fruit option.

All children will receive one third of a pint of cows’ milk per day. The nursery will use this to accompany any cereal provided for their packed breakfast if required. Where a milk alternative is required due to preference, intolerance or allergy, parents will be required to supply this.

Allergens and Child Safety
Blue Bell Woods must ensure children are not exposed to potentially life-threatening allergens or food that could pose a choking risk. Packed meals MUST NOT contain the following:

  • Nuts or nut products.
  • Fizzy / sugary drinks in cartons, bottles, or cans
  • Chocolate-coated products / sweets / confectionary
  • Crisps
  • Chocolate or sweet spreads as fillings for sandwiches
  • Sugared / toffee and salted popcorn.

Due to the complexities in ensuring the correct temperatures of food, we do not permit hot foods or food that requires reheating. We do not have the capacity to reheat food in nursery. Choking can happen with hard foods, bones and small round uncut items that can easily get stuck in the throat. It is of great importance that you ensure that the risk from these is minimised where it cannot be eliminated. We ask that whole uncut round foods such as
grapes, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, olives etc are cut up to prevent a choking risk.
Where foods provided do not meet the above criteria, the nursery may either:

  • Remove the food from the packed meals and call parents to provide an alternative.
  • Allow the food to be given on that one occasion after being made safe, with guidance
    provided for parents on the criteria set. Please note, the nursery cannot offer substitutions to
    replace food not being given.

In a case where a child presents with an identified food avoidant/ARFID, which limits access to a nutritionally balanced diet, please refer to your Nursery Manager for support and advice.

Food safety
As fridge space is not available in nursery, parents are required to provide the packed meals in a thermally insulted lunch box or bag, with freezer blocks to keep foods chilled.
Foods can be kept at room temperature for no longer than 4 hours, therefore, if you are unable to provide a thermally insulted meal box / bag with freezer blocks, then you will need to arrange for tea to be delivered to the nursery after 12.15pm and before 4pm.
Different foods should be individually wrapped to help reduce likelihood of cross contamination.
All meal bags MUST be clearly and securely labelled with the following information:

  • Child’s full name
  • Clear and up to date picture of your child’s face
  • Breakfast, snack, lunch and tea to be separated and clearly labelled in the meal bag.
  • Details of any dietary requirements that your child has, such as vegetarian or fish allergy.

Parent/carers must complete a ‘Packed Meal Declaration’ slip indicating the meals provided and what allergens are present from the list of 14 allergens; we require one slip daily per bag/box for the overall contents. The slip will also list any foods that are omitted at the nursery where we have identified a need for a food item to be excluded. If a food item is listed on the slip this must not be present in a packed meal.

Waste and Disposal
All uneaten foods in unopened packets/boxes as well as whole fruits such as bananas will be sent home at the end of the nursery day. This will enable parents to monitor what their child has consumed during the day and then raise any concerns over their child’s food intake within nursery. All other left-over food will be disposed of at nursery to promote good hygiene practices.

Things to consider when packing your child’s meals:

  • Foods are suitable for your child, considering their age and stage of development – please follow the Food Standards Agency ‘Early years choking hazards food safety advice’ for cutting and preparing your child’s food.
  • Is the food easy for your child to eat?
  • Ensure the food is presented in a way that is inviting to eat.
  • Only contains food that have been tried at home.
  • For weaning babies, please ensure food is prepared so that it is suitable for the age and stage, to minimise risk of choking.
  • Jars and weaning foods must be in sealed containers. These will not be reheated.

Monitoring

  • Parents and carers who do not adhere to the Packed Meal Policy will be spoken to with guidance given. If a child regularly brings in packed meals that do not follow the policy, the nursery will reserve the right to remove all funded sessions.
  • If children arrive at nursery without their packed meals, families will be contacted and expected to plan for healthy packed meals to be delivered to nursery by 10.30am for lunch, or after 12.15pm and before 4pm for tea. The responsibility lies with the parent regarding the storage and preparation of all food.

Freshly prepared nursery meals are NOT available on an ad hoc basis.

Care Consumables
To be able to support the care routines of your child and meet their individual needs, care consumables must be brought to nursery every day that your child is accessing a fully-funded session.
You are required to provide the following items:

We do not have the capacity to store these items at nursery therefore they must be brought in daily and clearly labelled with your child’s full name.


Your child must have a main nursery bag- plastic bags are not suitable due to the safety risk.

The nappy changing kit, nappy sacks/ other suitable waterproof bags, sun cream and infant paracetemol must be brought to nursery every day that your child is accessing a funded only place in a separate bag and handed to a member of staff; they must NOT be left in your child’s main nursery bag. This is to ensure these items are not accessible to other children.

Keeping your child safe and healthy

Some sun creams and nappy creams may contain ingredients that are unsafe for your child or another child with an air borne allergy e.g. almond oil. Please provide product details to your Nursery Manager – product full title and manufacturers full name so suitability can be checked.

It is the responsibility of parent/carers to check that any creams are within their date of expiry,noting date of opening, as well as ensuring that there is enough cream to keep your child safe and healthy throughout the day.

For sun protection “instant” or “one use” creams can be used provided they meet the SPF criteria and following the packaging guidelines.

Children should wear at least SPF30 suncream that also provides UVA protection.

Infant Paracetemol
Temperature reducing infant suspension sachets (e.g. paracetemol) must be brought to nursery every day that your child is accessing a funded only place and handed to a member of staff.
Infant paracetemol must NOT be left in your child’s bag. We do not have the capacity to store bottles of infant paracetemol at nursery therefore in-date individual sachets must be provided, clearly labelled with your child’s full name and date of birth. We will only administer temperature reducing infant suspension in line with our Medication Policy.

Monitoring
It is the parents/carers responsibility to ensure that their child arrives at nursery with all the essential items to meet their child’s individual care routines; this will enable nursery colleagues to keep children safe and healthy whilst in their care.
If it is observed on arrival that your child does not have a nursery bag containing the essential items, you will not be able to leave your child until such items are provided. If during the day your child runs out of, or is running low on any essential items, a nursery colleague will contact you and request that these items are provided without delay. Alternatively, we have the right to request that a child is collected from nursery.
Blue Bell Woods recognises our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children. Where there is a persistent failure to meet a child’s basic needs, a record of this will be made at nursery. Parents/carers will also be invited to attend a meeting to check in and discuss further. This could result in funded only sessions being retracted if parents/carers regularly fail to provide essential items.

Things to consider:

  • We advise that you check and replenish your child’s nursery bags the day prior to attending nursery, this will ensure you are fully prepared, your child’s outcomes are not impacted as well as avoid any unnecessary interruptions to your day.
  • Remember that these items are only needed for funded days that your child attends (unless due to allergies, intolerances or preferences you usually provide items such as sun cream).