Nutrition

Thorley Day Nursery has a Level 5 Food Hygiene rating awarded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) which is awarded following routine unannounced inspections.

All staff have up to date Food Hygiene training and certificates.

We only use exceptional quality and fresh produce from local businesses to cater for well-balanced, nutritious and tasty meals.

Our meals are low in salt and sugar content and present a quality balance in Omega 3, protein and fat.

Meals are prepared and cooked using fresh produce on our premises each day by our in house cook. Preparing and cooking nutritional meals and snacks in house allows us to ensure we are always catering for each child’s dietary needs. We are highly responsive to food allergies, intolerances and preferences.

In addition to specific dietary needs we also ensure that any religious and/or cultural requirements of our children are always respected and considered when planning our menu and when preparing meals.

Our menu is based on a three week cycle, so children taste a variety of cultural and traditional dishes.

Menus are reviewed regularly to suit children’s preferences and introduce new flavours.

We share all our recipes with parents to support continued healthy eating at home.

Children play a large part in the preparation and planning of meals, including, choosing their favourite dishes to go on the menu, growing vegetables and herbs in our nursery garden, washing and cutting fresh vegetables.

Weekly baking sessions include children in the process of food preparation.

All our meals are fully approved and commended by a trained Nutritionist.

Healthy Setting Award

We have been recognised by Trafford as a Healthy Setting since 2014. The Healthy Setting Award commends not only the quality of nutrition we provide but also the teaching of an all-round healthy lifestyle. In addition to food and nutrition we skilfully teach the children about staying healthy mentally and physically.

Emotional Well-being

Our daily practice supports children’s mental well-being and awareness of a range of emotions from a very young age. Children are taught to recognise their wealth of abilities and achievements through discussion, praise and celebration.

Being Healthy

Physical activity is key to a child’s day at nursery. We encourage children to be active throughout their day with lots of outdoor play as well as several sessions to boost children’s energy including ‘Wake up Shake up’ and ‘Sticky Kids’.

Physical Activity

We teach children about the importance of being active, eating a healthy and balanced range of food, looking after themselves and promoting independence. We regularly include the Dental Buddy programme into our teaching to promote children’s health and well-being.

Safety & Security

We provide a safe and secure environment for all children to feel at home and thrive in. All children are greeted by a familiar face each day as they arrive at nursery. We have designated greeters to open the door to families and visitors to the nursery. Visits are booked in advance by appointment so we know who and when someone is visiting the setting to ensure a high standard of safeguarding and so that our teaching with the children is not disrupted. We have effective systems in place to ensure a safe arrival and departure for all children.

We have a comprehensive Safeguarding Policy to protect and support all areas of children’s welfare.

Management have attended external safer recruitment training to ensure a safe recruitment process for all staff. All staff are thoroughly vetted during our stringent recruitment process. Enhanced DBS checks are obtained for all staff, employment history is gathered as are detailed references from the most recent places of work.

All staff, attend external safeguarding training every 2-3 years. This is continuously refreshed in house at monthly staff meetings and additional training sessions.