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A new series of example menus and associated guidance, developed to support early years settings has been published today. The menus are designed to offer food and drink in line with current government dietary recommendations for infants and children aged 6 months to 4 years. They include example menus and useful information for early years settings to help show how they can meet the Early Years Foundation Stage welfare requirement to provide ‘healthy, balanced and nutritious’ meals for children.

Commenting the new menus, Michael Freeston, director of quality improvement at the Pre-school Learning Alliance, part of the initiative’s expert review group and a founding partner of the Early Years Nutrition (EYN) Partnership, said:

“Good nutrition is a vital part of both learning and development, and we are confident that these menus, which were based on a thorough review of early years nutrition and took into account the viewpoints of settings and experts across the sector, will prove welcome additions to the excellent food already being served in the majority of settings. 



“These menus will support settings with either practiced chefs or novice cooks and should help providers put quality nutrition at the heart of what they do, something becoming ever more challenging in the current funding climate. Nutrition in the early years is so important to ensuring young children go on to live healthy lives and is a vital part of cognitive development. We hope that these menus will become a cornerstone of the daily life of settings across the country, something the Alliance will be working to support member settings to achieve.”

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ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

• The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest and most representative early years membership organisation in England. A registered educational charity, it also provides high-quality affordable childcare and education to support children and families in areas of deprivation throughout the country.
• The Alliance represents 14,000 member settings and supports them to deliver care and learning to more than 800,000 families every year. We deliver family learning projects, offer information and advice, produce specialist publications, run acclaimed training and accreditation schemes and campaign to influence early years policy and practice.
•  The Alliance website is