Breakfast, snacks, a cooked lunch and a cooked tea, all made in the kitchen by Maureen from a four-week menu
Food, cooked here
Every meal is cooked in the kitchen downstairs by Maureen, who has been here since 2013, from a four-week menu written to the Welsh Government food and nutrition guidance: a main and a pudding at lunch, a cooked tea at 4:30, fruit and vegetables at snack, water and milk to drink. Allergies, faiths and weaning plans are cooked for from the same menu.
A nursery that sends a four-year-old home at six on a sandwich has not fed them. Maureen cooks a proper lunch and a proper tea every day, the staff eat what the children eat, and this week's menu is on the board in the hall and on the day page, so you know what they had before they tell you they had "the red one".
The menu runs over four weeks so that nothing comes round too often, and it changes twice a year for summer and winter. A typical lunch is lentil and vegetable soup with homemade bread, then fruit crumble and custard; or chicken and vegetable casserole with mash, then yoghurt and berries; or a fish pie with peas, then rice pudding. Tea at 4:30 is a lighter cooked meal: jacket potatoes with beans and cheese, pasta with a tomato and hidden-vegetable sauce, Welsh rarebit with salad, a homemade pizza on a Friday. Snacks are fruit, vegetable sticks, breadsticks, oatcakes and cheese; the drinks are water and milk, and there is no juice, squash or anything with added sugar in the building.
Weaning follows you. From six months we start with the purees and finger foods you are using at home, in the order you want, and we write what was offered and what went in on the daily diary. Formula is provided in two common brands and we make up each bottle fresh; if you use another brand or breast milk, bring it labelled and we store it in the Acorns fridge. We are happy with baby-led weaning and happy with spoons; what we will not do is make a baby finish a bowl.
Allergies and intolerances are written on the child's plan, on the kitchen board and on a card that travels with the child's plate. Maureen cooks the alternative from the same menu wherever possible so the child is eating what the table is eating: dairy-free custard, a gluten-free crumble top, a vegetarian casserole. Halal meat is used for the children who need it and the kitchen keeps separate boards. Nothing containing nuts comes into the building, from the kitchen or in a lunchbox, and the staff room follows the same rule.
The kitchen has a five-star food hygiene rating from Cardiff Council, Maureen and her assistant Ceri hold Level 3 food safety, and we take part in the Gold Standard Healthy Snack Award scheme for Welsh settings. Children in Oaks help with the Friday bread and grow the tomatoes, strawberries and runner beans that end up in the kitchen in July; the babies get the strawberries first.
What is included
- Breakfast, a morning snack, a cooked lunch with pudding, an afternoon snack and a cooked tea
- A four-week menu, summer and winter versions, on the board and on the day page
- Weaning the way you do it at home, written up on the daily diary
- Formula provided in two brands; breast milk and other brands stored and labelled
- Allergy, intolerance and halal alternatives cooked from the same menu
- A five-star hygiene rating, Level 3 food safety, nothing with nuts in the building
What it costs
All meals are included in the day fee. A funded day under the 30-hours offer is £8, which is the cost of the food and consumables for that day. The fees page has every rate side by side and a calculator for your days with the 30-hours offer applied; the day page has the routine and this week's menu.
Questions about food
My child is a fussy eater. What happens?
They eat with the others at the table, are offered everything, and are never made to finish or to try. Most fussy eaters eat more at nursery than at home within a month because the children next to them are eating it. We tell you what went in each day so you can plan tea at home.
Can you cater for a dairy allergy?
Yes, and for egg, gluten, soya and the rest. The allergy goes on the child's plan with a letter from the GP or health visitor, on the kitchen board, and on the card that goes with their plate. Maureen cooks the alternative from the same menu.
Do you give birthday cake?
A shop-bought cake with the ingredients on the label can come in for a birthday and is shared at tea, with the allergy children given their own. Home-made cakes cannot come in, because we cannot read the label.
Come and see it running. Tuesday to Thursday, forty minutes, bring the child.
Tell us your child's age and the days you are thinking of, and we reply within the working day with a time to walk round every room while it is open, the garden, the kitchen and the fees. No pressure and nothing to sign; the waiting list is free to join afterwards. Or ring Bethan.