The food our children eat affects every aspect of their lives: their mood, behaviour, growth, even their ability to concentrate. Good nutrition is vital to a child’s health — from building strong bones and teeth to the healthy development of internal organs and general growth.

Rainbow Smiles’ approach is to ensure a balanced, healthy diet for children. The menu is structured to provide a wide variety of food throughout the day to meet daily nutritional requirements. There is a strong emphasis on fresh fruit and vegetables, along with a focus on different types of fish dishes, which are healthier and easier to digest for young children. Meat and chicken dishes are served mainly once a week, and none of our meals contain fried food.

All meals are cooked daily using fresh ingredients, with very few pre-made items such as fish fingers. Our Chef prepares many items from scratch — including bread and baked beans — ensuring complete control over the ingredients used.

Children given high-sugar foods can become less focused and experience mood swings. A balanced diet helps them stay eager to learn, appear happier, and sleep better. We therefore limit sugar and salt in all recipes and use quality products that are low in ‘E’ numbers, salt, and sugar.

The menu is also multicultural in nature. This has numerous benefits such as:

• Enabling the Nursery to provide a wide variety of healthy meals that reflect the multicultural makeup of the children and staff within the Nursery.
• Introducing a wide variety of ingredients and flavours to children. This is especially important at a young age when their palate is developing, as it exposes them to a wide range of healthy food items.

Snacks again are varied and diverse, ranging from a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables to freshly baked cakes and biscuits accompanied with milk. However, the key emphasis on snacks is to ensure they are nutritional and light so that they do not detract from the main meals.

Breakfast is mainly based around healthy cereals, toast, and milk, which keep in line with the Nursery theme of healthy eating.