Nutrition
Fresh nutritious food
At Clarence House we believe that good nutrition is essential to your child’s development and leads to a healthy, happy child. Our aim is to educate your child about different food groups including fruits and vegetables and to promote a healthy approach to diet.
We have been awarded the Good Food mark by Children’s Food Trust for our meals and practices.
Our meals are included free in all our sessions including grant funded sessions.
Delicious fresh home-cooked meals are prepared in our in house professional kitchen every day by our qualified team of chefs and cooks and delivered to our nurseries. We aim to provide a seasonally changing menu of locally sourced, nutritious, healthy food that is also tasty!
Our Head Chef also guides our ‘Cook With Me’ programme.
We provide meals throughout the day including breakfast, mid morning snack, 2 course lunch and 2 course afternoon tea.
Our Menus
Our menus are planned by our Head Chef using guidelines from the Food Safety Agency and with careful consideration given to salt and sugar content. Milk or dairy foods are offered at two to three meals during the day in accordance with existing guidance on food groups for children aged one to five years and we deliver a minimum of 4-5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day.
We currently operate a seasonal menu that changes twice a year. It includes a varied choice of breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch and afternoon tea on a three-week rotation system. This means that your child will be exposed to a wide variety of food types and meals, helping to develop their appreciation of a broad range of foods with different textures, tastes and smells.
Menus are available for parents to view at your child’s nursery and our staff will give you a summary of what your child has eaten at the end of each day.
Healthy Snacks & Drinks
Healthy snacks are available mid-morning. For older children we offer a rolling snack so that they can help themselves.
Water is available at all mealtimes and throughout the day in child-accessible places from bottles labelled with your child’s name. Milk is available during the mid-morning snack and afternoon tea.
Special Dietary Needs
We work in partnership with parents to ensure that the medical, cultural and dietary needs of children are met. For major cultural events our chefs prepare appropriate food, for example, at Christmas, Diwali, Chinese New Year etc to encourage children to
In addition to our main selection we offer vegetarian and gluten free/dairy free meals.
Mealtime
Mealtimes at Clarence House Nurseries are a fun, happy, social occasion where children sit together with the staff at dining tables and learn important lessons of interaction with their peers and listening skills.
Our aim is to replicate the home environment, encouraging children to set the table, share and serve food and use their cutlery.
We encourage good table manners and encourage social interaction.
We believe that independence is one of the most important lessons a child can learn and this independence increases as children grow. By the time your child reaches our preschool room, they will have learnt to serve food to others and for themselves as well as pouring drinking water by themselves.
Weaning
The staff in our baby rooms are fully-trained and ready to assist parents when it comes to weaning. Before weaning babies drink their own formula, pre-made and labelled by parents at home and brought to our nurseries.
