Meals at nursery

[Dimples81]

As far as i know OFSTED make no comment on food although they will comment on whther healthy eating is acknowledged,eg if healthy snack is served but you would be suprised whsat gets put into place when settings are given notice of an OFSTED inspection that aren't there the rest of the time. I would never take a nursery at their OFSTED grading tbf having worked in several, OFSTEDs are easy to manipulate with notice. I would also question nursery quantities - a fruit snack for some nurseries is actually only the equivalent of a slice of apple, half a strawberry and a grape. Hardly a full 5 a day.

 

[RachA]

As far as i know OFSTED make no comment on food although they will comment on whther healthy eating is acknowledged,eg if healthy snack is served but you would be suprised whsat gets put into place when settings are given notice of an OFSTED inspection that aren't there the rest of the time. I would never take a nursery at their OFSTED grading tbf having worked in several, OFSTEDs are easy to manipulate with notice. I would also question nursery quantities - a fruit snack for some nurseries is actually only the equivalent of a slice of apple, half a strawberry and a grape. Hardly a full 5 a day.

That's one of the reasons i hate ofsted reports. If they want an accurate idea of the school/nursery then it needs to be done randomly.

 

[keepontrying]

nurseries are inspected randomly, schools and childminders get notice and I think that is wrong.

Ofsted will mark a setting up if the children choose their own food and serve themselves and the subject of healthy eating is brought into activities... that does not mean they actually have to abide by that though.

In my experience Ofsted are a waste of time, i even know of a woman that was found guilty of flinging a child across a room when she worked at a nursery and she was not punished or struck off, in fact ofsted stuck up for her saying she admited to having a stressful day!!!!..... personally i would have floored her i think!

 

[Dimples81]

the nurseries i have worked in have always had 2 days notice.

 

[jaybee]

SOrry, don't have time to read the whole post... however...
I would say they have a duty of care to provide your children with healthy alternatives to the sugary desserts.
It would not take much to provide fruit in place of the other things.

 

[emmajane]

Thankyou everybody. It is so nice to get some support as I was worried that I was over reacting. I did complain to the nursery and the regional manager and they sent me an email today. I am still not satisfied by the response so your responses give me a bit more confidence to take this further. I stupidly handed back the menu a couple of days ago with all the options I wasn't happy with crossed out. I wish I had kept it so I could give you more examples of the ones that really shocked me. I will try to get another copy next week.

I have asked for the boys to be put on a preference diet with only fruit/yoghurt based stuff for puddings as I really felt that I didn't have any choice. I could not let them continue eating the amount of sugary puddings and also introduce the idea that the amount of them are normal. I am really angry as I am so conscious of the effect this may well have on them but it really feels like the better of the two evils.

I agree. Not so much about milky/creamy puddings (active toddlers can handle dairy and many need it), but certainly about sugary/chocolately puddings - that is not good. DS might share a dessert like that as a one off (once a month or less), but that is it... Really not a good habit to be in regularly...

Were you led to believe (sample menus etc) that the nursery only gave healthy puddings? What do other parents think? If they are in agreement, maybe that would help getting the nursery to change...

QT

I have just had a look on their website and it does have a sample menu on there which does not make any mention of the dodgy desserts they are now being given. So I think I am going to mention that I was led to believe that their menus were a lot healthier than they are.

At the moment, I am feeling really strongly about it and really want to pursue it. It is probably too late for my eldest son who is going to school in september but for my youngest one and to stand by my belief!

 

[emmajane]

There can't really be any excuse for fudge tart (sounds yummy though haha) but I know Ruby's nursery don't add refined sugar to their desserts at all. They make various cakes and biscuits for puddings that have no sugar in, they're sweetened with fruit etc. So on the face of it it does sound like they have quite a few sweet bits but there's no sugar in them so it's fine by me. Maybe check with them that it is all full sugar stuff?

The nursery manager did offer for me to talk to the chef so he could explain how the puddings are all made as she says there isn't as much sugar in them as I think. It would be interesting to see how it is done.

 

[emmajane]

Archie is in a Surestart nursery, and once a week they have cake and custard, however it is home made, on site and like someone else said, no refined sugar is used so I don't mind once a week. But this is a typical menu

Breakfast - weetabox
Snack - milk and fruit
lunch - cottage pie with sweetcorn and peas
Snack - milk and fruit
tea - tomato cous cous

My niece goes to a smaller, but more expensive, private nursery and I collected her with my sister a few weeks ago and this was what she had on ONE day:-

Breakfast - cocopops
Snack - jam crackers and juice
Lunch fishfingers, smiley faces and beans, arctic roll for dessert
snack SAUSAGE ROLL AND DONUT
Tea sausage chips and gravy, creamed rice pudding for dessert
Snack - jam on toast

I was horrified - I said to my sister does she eat like that every day and she got the hump with me and said it's not a competition which nursery is best you know That wasn't what I was getting at - if they was how Archie ate in nursery he'd be like Augustus Gloop by the time he gets it 18 months!!!

Sausage roll and donut is shocking!

 

[KiansMummy]

Hi I'm not sure about the nursery your child goes to. But I work in a nursery and we follow the smile for life guidelines. So none of the meals include salt , much sugar etc. The puddings at the nursery I work at are things like fruit crumble, fresh fruit salad and ice cream, pears in evaporated milk, bananas and custard that sort of thing x