Nutrition & Wellness

At Little Cherubs meal times should always be viewed as happy, social occasions for both children and staff. The staff team act as good role models by eating with our children, encouraging good table manners and conversation. Staff use meal and snack times to help children develop independence through making choices, serving food, drinks and feeding themselves.

All meals and snacks are freshly prepared on the premises each day. Our seasonal menu has recently been redesigned by Louise. Her knowledge & ideas give inspiration on meals to ensure children receive a nutritionally balanced, diverse range of meals.
Cultural flavours & dishes have been incorporated for children to experience many tastes of the world. Meals are adapted to meet individual dietary and allergy requirements. These are noted on the allergen cards for each individual meal & catered for appropriately (available to view at any time)

Fresh drinking water is also available throughout the entire day and served with each meal & snack. 

Staff experience training & ongoing CPD to have very strong knowledge regarding;

• Developing healthy eating habits in the early years
• Meal and snack routines
• Portion size guidelines
• Drinks and suitable cups
• New national food standard guidelines
• All staff complete paediatric first aid training by external companies.
• Safer sleep guidelines

Eat Better, Start Better

All Little Cherubs staff team have participated in the Early Start EYFS food & nutrition training for Infant & Toddlers. The training has been developed & approved by award winning registered nutritionists.

Staff now have a solid understanding of the importance of:

• Developing healthy eating habits in the early years
• Meal and snack routines, including recipe ideas
• Key principles of the Eat Better Start Better guidelines
• Portion size guidelines
• Drinks and suitable cups
• Vitamin recommendations

Fresh drinking water is on offer throughout the nursery day. Whilst we focus on healthy eating, we do not discourage parents from bringing in celebration cakes, as recognising and celebrating a child’s birthday builds both self-esteem and confidence.

We aim to promote positive attitudes towards healthy eating through play opportunities, planned activities and games.

Free Milk Entitlement

As a full day nursery we are able to provide free cows milk for every child, 189 ml (1/3 pint) of milk for each day they attend.

For children with allergies, we provide both Oat & Soya Milk.

We provide free formula milk for children up to 12 months from our approved list.

Baby Meals

• Babies in our care use high-chairs and the more stable sitters use small chairs and tables.
• When our staff are feeding babies they sit at their level and interact with them using facial expressions and verbal encouragement.
• Babies meals are prepared to suit their individual stage of development either puree, lumpy, mash or normal.
• Babies are encouraged to explore finger food at meal and snack times when they are able to take solids

Health & Wellbeing

We understand the importance of promoting wellbeing for staff, children & parents. This helps to create a positive environment within the nursery setting.

At Little Cherubs we have ‘mindfulness ambassadors’ to help promote mindfulness to our daily practice for both staff & children. Our ‘ambassadors’ come together to tailor our techniques to each age group helping to promote techniques into the children’s daily routines. Staff use the promoting positive behaviour policy to ensure consistency. Staff are able to recognise when a child may need support with their emotions and provide this one to one or in a small group, whichever is more appropriate. Teaching children to recognise and manage their emotions at a young age will support them throughout their life

We have a ‘relaxation & calming’ area in each room with books and sensory objects available. During various parts of the day we support children’s self-regulation through carefully planned activities and resources. This includes supporting children to manage their own emotions and behaviour using rules and boundaries created by the children themselves. We provide activities in which children are able to recognise and express their emotions, including emotional literacy. Our practitioners promote calming stories, stretching and talking about each child’s feelings. This enables us to provide support for children who may be experiencing big emotions that they can’t cope with just yet.

Staff and parents are given the opportunity to complete at home workshops with useful and practical tools to help them navigate life's demands and discover the peace and calm within themselves focusing their minds, promoting greater self awareness.

Our entire staff team complete workshops with professionals in the industry such as ‘Mindfulness Kids London’

Beam Academy Yoga (formally Yogabugs) visit our older Toddler & Pre School children once a week for as a extra curricular session.

Let Life be Yoga

www.letlifebeyoga.com

Little Cherubs have teamed up with ‘Let Life Be Yoga’ with Annie. Throughout the year our staff & parents have exclusive access to free mindfulness meditation sessions via zoom.

We recognise the importance of everybody’s physical & mental health, giving everyone the opportunity for 30 mins each week to take a moment to breathe & improve their mental wellbeing.

Wellness Ambassadors

Staff wellness is paramount to providing the high quality outcomes for the children. Little Cherubs are very proud to have a group of Wellness Ambassadors that can regularly meet and voice workplace needs & issues.

These ambassadors help to support the team & have been awarded the FutureQuals Level 2 Award in Mental Health: Workplace responder qualification.

These ambassadors are able to use their knowledge of mental health conditions to promote positive attitudes towards mental health in the workplace. Providing a key role in supporting line managers with any staff wellbeing issues within the workplace for both children & staff to promote a positive environment.

For support with your mental health, please contact Samaritans on 116 123, or NHS 111.