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nutritional guidance for early years: food choices for children aged 1-5 years in early education and childcare settings

Dear Sir/Madam

The early years are crucial in children's development. Providing our youngest children with healthy, nutritious food is very important for their health and for developing positive habits and attitudes to food.

We are therefore delighted to be issuing the draft nutritional guidance for early years for consultation. The guidance is intended to support early years providers, such as nurseries and playgroups by giving practical advice on food choices and menu planning.

We want to hear the views of everyone involved in providing food to young children in early years settings. Details on how to respond are attached and we would encourage anyone with an interest in this subject to send us your comments by 30 June 2005.

CONSULTATION ON NUTRITIONAL GUIDANCE FOR EARLY YEARS

Responding to this consultation paper

Appendix A of the draft nutritional guidance gives details about the Scottish Executive's consultation process. We are inviting written responses for the following questions (see attached page or Appendix B) by 30 June 2005. Please send your response to:

EYnutrition@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or

Consultation on Nutritional Guidance for Early Years
Early Education & Childcare Division
Scottish Executive
Area 2B (North)
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

If you have any queries contact Susan Neilands on 0131 244 7608.

We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

Responding to this consultation paper

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form attached to this letter as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Executive are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

The guidance will be relevant to different early years providers in different ways. By answering the following questions, let us know about the issues that will affect you and your colleagues in providing food for children in your care.

1. Does the nutritional guidance meet the particular needs of your pre-school setting? Please let us know if you and your colleagues need any additional advice.
2. Will the guidance be helpful in delivering healthier food for the children in your pre-school establishment?
3. Will you or your colleagues require additional skills or training to implement the guidance, as it will affect your establishment? If so, what training will be needed?
4. How easy will it be to implement this guidance in your early years setting?
5. Is the style and format of the guidance appropriate? Please tell us about any changes you think need to be made.
6. Please let us have any other comments you want to make about the guidance.

nutritional guidance for early years: food choices for children aged 1-5 years in early education and childcare settings

1 introduction

A varied nutritious diet and regular physical activity is fundamental for proper growth and development in young children. ^1,2 In the short term it can help children and young people to improve their concentration, growth and to support their learning. ^1,3 A good diet in childhood can reduce the risk of ill health later in life. ^5,6 In addition, poor dietary intake is associated with the development of obesity ⁴ and iron deficiency anaemia. ^3,5

Securing better nutrition: Securing a better diet

Ensuring good nutrition in the early years is very important. Positive messages about food and eating can be consistently reinforced to children through: the snacks, drinks and meals provided; the activities they engage in; the attitudes and behaviour of staff and carers towards food and food choices. Children's food experiences in early years can influence food choices within the home impacting on the family's health as a whole.

Staff and carers in early education will recognise the importance of feeding children a nutritionally adequate diet and that they are in a position to influence this. Continuing improvements in food and nutrition in the early years settings will make a valuable contribution to children's health and educational development. Recent research and activities have highlighted that in order to achieve this, specific guidance to support staff and carers in their efforts to provide good nutrition to children in the early years sector is needed.

Who is this document for?

These guidelines are aimed at the early years sector (i.e. local authority nurseries, partnership nurseries, childminders, toddler groups, family centres, playgroups).

What does it hope to achieve?

To support staff and carers in meeting young children's nutritional and developmental needs.

To provide evidence-based nutritional guidance for children aged 1-3 years and 4-5 years who attend pre-school education and day care in Scotland.

To provide practical advice on food choices and menu planning based on sound evidence.

Where can I find out more?

The information in this guidance document is designed to be consistent with Adventures in Foodland and to complement it, by making the links between specific nutrient standards and practical food choices.

Adventures in Foodland is a comprehensive resource providing food, nutrition, oral health and physical activity guidance which has been developed by NHS Health Scotland for those caring for children aged between 0-5. This resource is available by emailing NHS Health Scotland at distribution@health.scot.nhs.uk

Securing the best start in life

Improving the health of Scottish children is a major priority for the Scottish Executive and key actions to achieve this are outlined in Improving Health in Scotland - the Challenge (Scottish Executive, 2003). This policy paper identifies early years as one of four key themes for health improvement activity, as well as giving a special focus to diet and physical activity as a means of achieving this. Eating for Health: Meeting the Challenge (Scottish Executive, 2004), a strategic framework for food and health in Scotland, identified the development of nutritional standards for the pre-school sector as a key route for taking action in this area forward in 2004/5.

In addition, improving child health and development is central to the Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5 and the National Care Standards for Early Education and Childcare up to the Age of 16. This guidance will help establishments work towards these standards.

Increasing the rate of improvement of the health status of people living in the most deprived communities is a key objective of the Executive's new Closing the Opportunity Gap approach for tackling poverty and disadvantage. In Scotland improving diet and nutrition will benefit all sectors of the population but is likely to have its greatest impact on the most disadvantaged groups, including children living in socio-economically disadvantaged families.

The establishment and implementation of nutritional guidance in the pre-5 sectors will help to support carers in their efforts to provide a nutritious balanced diet for children. This in turn will contribute to improving the health of all children, in particular those who are currently poorly nourished at home.

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