Healthy Lifestyles
Healthy Eating
At New Beginnings, we understand the importance of healthy eating in supporting children’s growth, development and wellbeing.
Our experienced nursery chefs freshly prepare nutritious meals and snacks each day using high-quality ingredients, including fresh fruit, vegetables and quality meats. Daily meals may include breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and tea, depending on your child’s attendance pattern. Vegetarian and vegan options are also available.
For babies, we work closely with families to continue established home feeding routines and support each child through the weaning process at a pace that suits their individual development. Freshly prepared fruits and vegetables are introduced as part of a positive and supportive weaning experience.
Mealtimes are an important part of nursery life and provide valuable opportunities for children and staff to interact within our warm, family environment. Children are gently encouraged to explore new foods, develop independence and build healthy eating habits from an early age.
We are committed to supporting children with allergies, intolerances and cultural or religious dietary requirements, and suitable alternatives will always be discussed with families.
Copies of our three-week nursery menu and weaning menu are available on our Menu page. Families can also request recipes for favourite nursery meals to enjoy at home.
Our Menus
We take great pride in our menus, which exceed the current government guidelines for Early Years Settings in the UK. This means you can be confident that children at your nursery will enjoy nutritionally balanced meals prepared to the highest standards of food safety.
Our nursery chefs are proud to serve every child with freshly prepared food from our carefully designed menus. These menus are nutritionally planned, balancing food groups, considering portion sizes, and the right balance of salt and sugar intake. We know that your child will enjoy a rich variety of different meals that offer a balance across the right food groups throughout the week.
Our menus are planned to offer children low salt (sodium) and low sugar, fully nutritious meals and snacks throughout the day, according to their individual dietary needs and national guidelines. We encourage children to try new foods and to eat a balanced diet. However, where children refuse to eat the meal provided or are still in the process of learning to try new things, we do offer an alternative such as a sandwich or a healthy-filled wrap. This will be provided if the child has not eaten a sizeable portion of the meal, despite encouragement, to ensure that they are not hungry and are adequately fed. Parents will be notified by the Famly app if children are not eating to consider ways we can work together to encourage and support each child.
* Please note that the menu operated at your child's nursery may differ slightly on occasion. Please always consult with your nursery team for any specific menu queries.
Food Accreditations
At New Beginnings, we are committed to promoting children’s healthy eating, wellbeing and positive lifestyle habits from an early age. We continually look for ways to enhance the quality of the food, experiences and support we provide across all of our nursery settings.
As part of this commitment, our nurseries actively participate in recognised healthy eating, allergy awareness and wellbeing programmes that support high standards in early years nutrition and care.
In March 2018, New Beginnings achieved the Soil Association Food for Life Early Years Award, recognising our commitment to healthy, nutritious food and positive food education within the early years.
We have also successfully completed the Healthy Early Years London Award programme, achieving First Steps, Bronze, Silver and Gold accreditations across our nursery group. These awards recognise our ongoing commitment to supporting children’s health, wellbeing, physical development and healthy lifestyles.
In addition, New Beginnings is proud to support the work of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, reflecting our commitment to allergy awareness, safer food practices and supporting children with food allergies and dietary requirements within our nurseries.
Food Safety
At New Beginnings, children’s safety and wellbeing at mealtimes is extremely important. We have clear food safety procedures in place to support children with allergies, intolerances, medical needs and specific dietary requirements.
Processes such as individual care plans, allergy-aware serving procedures and the use of coloured plates help staff to clearly identify children with specific dietary needs during mealtimes.
Meals prepared for children with vegetarian, vegan, allergy-related or religious dietary requirements are clearly labelled by the nursery chef before being served within the nursery rooms. All children are closely supervised and supported by staff during mealtimes to help ensure a safe and positive dining experience.
Mealtimes also provide valuable opportunities for children to develop independence, social skills and healthy eating habits. Children are encouraged to feed themselves where appropriate, try new foods and engage in age-appropriate conversations about healthy lifestyles and food awareness.
Where children have allergies or intolerances, staff work closely with families to support children in developing an early understanding of their individual dietary needs. Through gentle discussion and everyday experiences, children begin to learn safe practices, including the importance of not sharing food or drinks with others.
For babies and younger children, we provide weaning menus with textures and foods appropriate to each child’s age and stage of development. We work closely with families to support individual feeding routines and create weaning programmes tailored to each child’s needs, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities who may require additional support with feeding and food textures.
Individual Dietary Needs
Before a child starts with us, we will always ensure we have gathered the information from their parent or carer, including any relevant information from other professionals, so that we are fully aware of each child’s specific dietary needs.
Allergies
We work closely with families to put individual dietary plans in place for children with allergies. These ensure that everyone involved in the child’s care is aware of how the allergy needs to be managed and any action required.
Intolerances
Unlike food allergies, the symptoms of a food intolerance are less severe and non-life threatening. However, we still take the utmost care to manage intolerances to ensure children’s ongoing good health. Like the management of allergies, a care plan will be implemented that details the specific needs of the child and the actions required.
Religious and Cultural Preferences
We respect the traditions and culture of each of our children and families. We cater for several religious and cultural diets, recognising that some foods are prohibited. We are guided by the needs of each child and work with families to provide alternatives.
Vegetarian
Our vegetarian meals are healthy and include all necessary nutrients. We follow government guidelines on these meals.
Nursery meals vs meals provided from home
At New Beginnings, children’s safety, wellbeing and nutritional needs are central to our mealtime approach. Our nurseries normally provide freshly prepared meals and snacks each day, prepared by our nursery chefs using high-quality ingredients.
As part of our commitment to food safety and allergy awareness, New Beginnings operates as a nut-free nursery environment and supports the work of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. Our staff receive enhanced allergy awareness and food safety training to help support children with dietary requirements, allergies and intolerances safely.
In line with updated Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) safeguarding and food safety expectations, meals and snacks brought from home are not routinely accepted within our nurseries. This approach helps us to:
- reduce the risk of allergen cross-contamination
- maintain consistent food safety and storage standards
- safely manage children’s individual dietary requirements
- support smooth and well-supervised mealtimes
- and promote an inclusive mealtime experience for all children.
Using a consistent nursery menu also helps younger children feel included during mealtimes and reduces situations where children may become upset or wish to swap food or drinks with others.
Many families also tell us that children who are reluctant eaters at home often enjoy trying new foods within the nursery environment and benefit from the varied, home-cooked meals prepared by our nursery chefs.
Where children have allergies, medical conditions, intolerances, cultural or religious dietary requirements, we work closely with families to provide suitable alternatives and individual support arrangements.
For families accessing funded childcare places, please also refer to our Funding Policy and Food, Nutrition and Mealtimes Policy for further guidance relating to meals and optional charges.