1. Ask the right questions

The time to ask questions is before your child starts at the nursery. Meet with the nursery manager and ask these questions. Don’t feel intimidated and guilty for asking – it is your right to know what the nursery intends to feed your child. If you feel you are not getting enough answers from the manager, ask to see the cook. If they are too busy, make an appointment to come back and see them another time.

Here are some suggested questions to run through with staff. On the menu:

• Can I see a typical weekly and monthly menu?
• How much of the food is prepared from fresh ingredients?
• Have you had the menu analysed by a nutritionist / do you have any ideas if the menu fulfils Caroline Walker Trust guidelines?
• Does the cook have training in nutrition?
• Where do you source your meat? Is it organic or free range?
• How many times a week and in what form is fish provided?
• Do you serve oily fish? If yes, what kind?
• What drinks do you provide between meals and at meal times?

Snack time:

• What do the children eat at snack time?
• What do they drink at snack time?

Meal times:

• How long do children have to eat their meals?
• Do the staff eat with the children?
• Do you encourage children to eat a bit of everything, including vegetables?
• Do you allow the older children to help themselves to the food?

Food in the curriculum:

• Do the children help to prepare the snacks or do cooking lessons? If they do cooking lessons, what do they cook?
• Do the children learn about food and healthy eating - how?

2. Set up a “food advisory group” between school and parents

If your nursery doesn’t have a liaison group on food, why not suggest to the nursery manager that one is set up? It could be based around the School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) model that exists in many primary and secondary schools. A SNAG is made up of pupils, parents, teachers and caterers and the aim is to “increase the uptake of a healthier diet and ensure consistent messages from the curriculum and the food“.

Some activities that the group could initially undertake are:

• Survey the parents of the nursery – what do they think about the food, are they happy, what changes would they like to see? This information can then be used to encourage the school to improve
• Encourage the school to have a typical menu analysed by a nutritionist
• Assess the food-based activities going on in school now, and make suggestions for more activities, for example vegetable printing, gardening or farm visits.
• If the school doesn’t have a food policy, start to put one together