Food
Starting children on a healthy diet helps them to develop good habits as well as to grow and develop healthily. You can learn more about your child's nutrition, including ideas of what to cook from the BDA Association of British Dieticians.
If you have any concerns about your child's eating, please talk to your Key Person, or see the 'Food for young children' tab on our Get help (advice and ideas) page for the special sessions run locally by HENRY.
This is what we do in our schools:
Hygiene
Staff who prepare food have at least Level 1 Food Hygiene Certificate. At Church Hill our Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene Rating is 5,and at Low Hall our score is 4.
Cooking
Small groups cook regularly as part of the curriculum.
Meals
Meal times are a social event, where children and staff can talk about their interests, what they do at nursery and at home, and share enjoyment of the food available. We appreciate any information and advice parents can give about their children’s eating preferences and we will help them to try a wider range of food than they may have previously been used to.
Menus are displayed in advance on the board next to the dining room.
Snack table
During every session we offer a variety of vegetarian healthy snacks for children to choose from — raw vegetables, cereals and fruit, water and milk. This is paid for by School Fund and our Milk grant. We do not offer any snacks containing nuts, gelatine, or other animal products.
Lunch at Church Hill
Lunchtime food for Church Hill is prepared at the Walthamstow School for Girls kitchen, and you can see the menus below. Food may vary from time to time, depending on the availability of ingredients, but will always be healthy and nutrionally-balanced. Pudding only comes once a week in order to keep our young children's diet healthy:
- Week 1 is for weeks beginning 5th and 26th September, 17th October, 14th November, 5th December
- Week 2 is for weeks beginning 12th September, 3rd and 31st October, 21st November, 12th December
- Week 3 is for weeks beginning 19th September, 10th October, 7th and 28th November
Tea
Tea is prepared in our kitchens.
Playscheme
Food is prepared in our kitchens. When children bring in packed lunches, we periodically assess the contents and where appropriate, encourage parents to send in healthier options.
Allergies
We display photos of children with allergies explaining the allergy, the foods which can and can’t be eaten, the symptoms of an allergic reaction, the treatment required and any precautions that need to be taken during activities involving food e.g. craft/messy play. Lunch menus are agreed in advance, the ingredients are cross-checked against the list of allergies that children on roll have and appropriate action is taken to keep them safe.
Nuts in particular
Both our schools are totally nut-free. People who suffer from nut allergies can develop a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction.
If someone has a nut allergy it is not just eating nuts that can cause a severe reaction: just being touched on the skin or smelling the breath of someone who has had nuts or a product containing nuts can trigger anaphylactic shock (which can cause breathing and swallowing difficulties). First aid staff in the school are trained to use Epi-pens (an injection of adrenalin) which is required immediately if this reaction happens.
We cannot have nuts in school in any form, so please don't bring in nut products when you pick up your child, in packed lunches, or if you bring in treats for a birthday or other celebration. Nut products include:
- peanut butter or other nut butter sandwiches
- chocolate spreads, including the well-known one...
- some cereal bars
- some granola bars
- cakes that contain nuts
- biscuits / cookies that contain nuts
- peanut or hazelnut sweets
- savoury foods such as satay
- sauces that contain nuts
This list is not exhaustive, so please check the packaging of products closely.
We appreciate that this is an additional thing to check and we know that you recognise the importance of it. We know that if this was your child you would expect that we all help, especially as it is a life-threatening condition.
