Statement of intent

 

We know that a robust education begins with a well-nourished child. Health is not just a part of our daily routine, but a fundamental pillar of the education we provide. Healthy eating actively fuels curiosity, concentration and creativity. By promoting and providing wholesome, minimally processed foods, we want to provide our children with the steady, sustained energy they need to explore the world around them, engage deeply with their learning, and thrive emotionally and socially.

Our commitment to diet and nutrition is an extension of our inclusive care for every individual child. We understand the profound link between what children eat and how they learn: a diet rich in whole foods directly supports brain development, concentration, and emotional resilience. Our position in the school ecosystem gives us a unique opportunity and responsibility: to educate and empower children with knowledge about nutrition that they will take with them through their school journey.

Together with our parent community, we aim to inspire a positive lifelong relationship with food, empowering our pupils to make choices that care for both their bodies and their brilliant, growing minds.

Our work on nutrition supports the governments agenda on healthy schools. All schools are required by law to provide opportunities for children to develop healthy eating habits. These requirements are set out here:

Government Food Standards for Schools

Some other websites and information:

Action for Children Parent Guides

Action on Sugar

Healthy eating and dental health

What does this mean for Anstey pupils?

We will support this government agenda by carefully planning what we offer to children. We want the food that we provide to have a positive impact on children's learning – to give them extra energy through the day and keep their bodies and brains working hard.

Our school lunch provider, Herts Catering Ltd., ensures that the lunches we offer comply with these guidelines.

This also means we are not able to offer certain foods. This may be disappointing for some children, but we are passionate about our responsibility to provide education and support around nutrition.

Foods that we will no longer offer are:

• white bread, pastries, pancakes, crumpets and other processed food (e.g., made with bleached flour)
• foods high in sugar (except small quantities of natural ingredients such as honey)
• foods high in salt and fat, such as crackers and breadsticks

What are we asking our families to do?

We would like your support in this area by considering what your children bring to school for their snacks and lunches each day. We are very aware that children have preferences around eating, and we know how hard it can be for some children to broaden their tastes. We are not asking that all packed lunches are suddenly altered to include grains, seeds and wholemeal bread. We would instead suggest that you talk about healthy eating and nutrition at home. Through these conversations about the impact different foods can have, and our nutrition curriculum, we hope that we can begin a dialogue within our school community that is focused on healthy bodies and healthy minds.

Each half-term, we hope to send home recipe cards with suggestions for you to try. These will reflect the content of our science, DT and PSHE curricula.