Director of Little Legs Southend, Tina Lassman recently visited our sister nursery, Safari Childcare, alongside representatives from the Department for Education to showcase our approach to nutrition, food education and sustainability.
The visit gave us the opportunity to share how we have transformed healthy eating, food education and environmental awareness into important parts of children’s everyday learning and development. Representatives from across the education and public health sectors attended, with representatives from Essex also present, highlighting the growing recognition that early years settings play a vital role in shaping children’s lifelong health, wellbeing and relationship with food.
The collaborative nature of the visit reflected the importance of partnership working between government, local authorities, public health professionals and early years providers to improve outcomes for children and families.
For Little Legs Southend and Safari Childcare, the visit was a proud opportunity to demonstrate how national guidance can be translated into meaningful, practical experiences that positively impact children’s health, confidence and understanding of food.
Bringing Nutrition to Life
At Little Legs Southend, we believe that nutrition is about far more than simply providing healthy nursery meals.
It is about helping children understand where food comes from, encouraging curiosity, developing healthy habits and creating positive experiences around eating from the very earliest years.
The DfE visitors spent time exploring our Plant to Plate programme, a key part of our curriculum that allows children to grow, care for, harvest and explore a variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs throughout the year.
From planting seeds and caring for growing produce to harvesting ingredients and incorporating them into cooking, children gain a deeper understanding of sustainability, food production, and healthy eating in the early years.
These hands-on experiences help children develop a real connection with food that simply cannot be achieved through conversation alone.
A Taste of Southend
No visit focused on nutrition would be complete without sampling some of the wonderful food our children enjoy each day.
Our Head Chef, Kerry, prepared a selection of dishes from our nursery menu, giving visitors the opportunity to experience the quality, variety and nutritional balance that are part of our daily offering.
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with visitors commenting on the freshness, presentation and flavour of the meals. It was a proud moment for our team and a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the hard work that goes into providing nutritious food for our children every day.
Our approach to childcare nutrition is centred on creating meals that are balanced, varied, child-friendly and enjoyable. Mealtimes are not only about eating, but also about learning, social development and building positive habits that can last a lifetime.
Inspired by National Guidance
One of the key discussions throughout the visit centred around how the Department for Education guidance has influenced and strengthened our approach to nutrition.
Rather than viewing guidance as a checklist, we have embraced it as an opportunity to continually improve our practice and develop a stronger approach to food education within our nurseries.
This has led to significant developments, including:
- A complete review and redesign of our menus
- Partnership working with Katie’s Life Kitchen to ensure our menus are nutritious, balanced and child-friendly
- Greater focus on food diversity and introducing children to a wider variety of ingredients and flavours
- Careful planning of weekly meals to ensure nutritional balance across the full menu cycle
- Enhanced staff understanding of nutrition and positive mealtime experiences
- Increased opportunities for children to learn about food through play, conversation and exploration
The result is an approach that places children’s health and wellbeing at the centre of everything we do.
Nourishing Our Futures
The visit also provided an opportunity to discuss our involvement in the National Nurseries for Food programme and the wider Nourishing Our Futures initiative.
Being part of these programmes allows us to remain at the forefront of best practice, working alongside experts, researchers and sector leaders who are passionate about improving children’s nutrition outcomes.
Through this work, we continue to explore new ways of supporting families, promoting healthy eating and ensuring food education is woven throughout children’s early years experiences.
Creating Confident Food Explorers Through TastEd
One area that particularly impressed visitors was our implementation of TastEd as one of Little Legs Southend signature curriculum sessions.
TastEd encourages children to explore food using all of their senses before tasting. Rather than focusing only on what children eat, it focuses on curiosity, confidence and exploration.
Children become food detectives, investigating:
- Colours
- Shapes
- Textures
- Sounds
- Smells
- Tastes
Research shows that repeated, pressure-free food exploration can increase children’s willingness to try new foods and develop positive attitudes towards healthy eating.
Importantly, children are never forced to taste. Instead, they are encouraged to engage with food in ways that feel comfortable and enjoyable for them.
This philosophy aligns perfectly with our broader approach to early years nutrition and was something the DfE visitors were particularly interested in observing.
Sustainability in Action
The visit also highlighted the importance of sustainability within our curriculum.
Children regularly engage in activities that help them understand their role as caretakers of the environment, including:
- Growing fruits, vegetables and herbs
- Composting food waste
- Learning about seasonal produce
- Exploring food miles and where food comes from
- Caring for outdoor growing areas
Reducing waste through thoughtful food planning
By connecting nursery sustainability and nutrition, children begin to understand how healthy choices can benefit both themselves and the world around them.
More Than Just Mealtimes
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the visit was that nutrition at Little Legs Southend extends far beyond breakfast, lunch and tea.
It can be found in our curriculum, our outdoor environments, our conversations with children, our partnerships with families and the experiences we provide every day.
Whether children are harvesting vegetables, participating in a TastEd session, helping to prepare a healthy snack, exploring a story linked to food, or sitting together to enjoy a balanced meal, they are developing skills and attitudes that will support their health and wellbeing for years to come.
Food education in early years plays an important role in helping children build confidence, independence and curiosity. By making nutrition part of everyday nursery life, we are helping children develop a positive relationship with food from the very beginning.
Looking Ahead
We were incredibly proud to share our journey with the Department for Education and to showcase the dedication of our team, particularly Kerry and our catering team, who work tirelessly to provide nutritious meals that children genuinely enjoy.
The visit reinforced our belief that when nutrition, sustainability and education come together, children thrive.
We look forward to continuing our work with the Department for Education, Katie’s Life Kitchen, Nourishing
Our Futures, National Nurseries for Food and TastEd as we champion healthy futures for every child in our care.
Because at Little Legs Southend, every meal is an opportunity to learn, every seed is an opportunity to grow, and every child deserves the very best start in life.
To learn more about life at Little Legs Southend, explore our nursery locations or get in touch with our team.