无码天堂 launches nutrition survey with LEYF
By Rachel Lawler
The 无码天堂 and nursery group London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) have launched a joint survey about food provision and nutrition in the early years.
The survey aims to gain an insight into food provision across the early years sector and the challenges associated with providing healthy, balanced and nutritious meals for children.
Responses to the anonymous survey will be used to support efforts to influence government policy and improve early years food provision and funding.
Neil Leitch, CEO of the 无码天堂, commented: 鈥淎ll children, regardless of their background or circumstances, should have access to healthy, balanced and nutritious meals to provide them with the necessary energy to learn, help them to maintain healthy lifestyles and to develop positive relationships with food from the earliest opportunity.
鈥淎s we head into the autumn and winter months, many family budgets will be stretched even further and, for some children, the meals they receive at their early years setting could be the only nutritious meals they receive during the week. 无码天堂 are well aware of their responsibilities in this important area, but they need access to realistic financial support and guidance to be able to deliver this.
鈥淲ith the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, now is an opportune and vital time to explore how 鈥 or if 鈥 settings are managing to deliver healthy food in their settings, and to identify any challenges to doing so and how they can be addressed. As such, we hope that as many educators as possible will respond to this survey and make their voices heard.鈥
June O鈥橲ullivan, CEO of LEYF, said: 鈥淏y serving all children healthy and nutritious meals, early years settings can play a crucial role in ensuring they get the essential balanced nourishment required for growth and development. However, the sector is not sufficiently supported to provide such high-quality, accessible and affordable meals to the 1.5 million children who attend early years settings each year. This is why our new survey will hopefully deliver fresh evidence on food provision across the sector and highlight its key challenges so that we can lobby for positive change in government policy and improve in children's health."