Healthy Schools Statement

Here at Eastfield Infant and Nursery School, we recognise that a healthy school is one that is successful in helping pupils to do their best and build on their achievements. It is committed to ongoing improvement and development. It promotes physical and emotional health and wellbeing by providing accessible and relevant information and equipping pupils with the skills and attitudes to make informed decisions about their health based on positive attitudes and information. We will liaise with outside agencies to ensure all information is current and relevant to our pupils and staff. The impact of this programme is based on a whole school approach to physical and emotional well-being focused on these core themes:

• Healthy Eating

• Physical Activity

• Emotional Health and Well-Being

The whole-school approach involves the whole school community including children, staff, parents and governors.

A healthy school understands the importance of investing in health to assist in the process of raising levels of pupil achievement and improving standards. It also recognises the need to provide both a physical, emotional and social environment that is conducive to learning.

With this in mind, we will ensure pupils have a safe working and playing relationships and environment both inside and outside of school. We aim to provide high quality Physical Education and School Sport and promote Physical Activity as part of a lifelong healthy lifestyle. Along with our PE lessons, we want our pupils to be active throughout the day and outdoor learning is extremely valued at our school.

We help the children develop greater confidence, motivation, self-esteem and have the skills, information and understanding to make important life and health choices. We provide children with more choices as to how they use their playtime by the development of break and lunchtime clubs and activities. This includes some of our older children training to become Sports Leaders. They are provided with the skills to motivate and engage their peers and younger children to be physically active in fun ways during their break times and lunchtimes. This also supports all of our children to develop good relationships and respect the differences between people.

As a healthy school we strive to promote healthy eating to ensure our children have enough energy to last the throughout the school day. In the EYFS and Key Stage 1, the children are provided with free fruit and vegetables for a daily snack and are taught the importance of staying hydrated throughout their day.

Many of our topics across the school, encourage children to learn more about food, where it comes from, how it is made and how it can be different around the world. Children often take part in food tasting activities and have a wide range of choices during lunchtimes to promote children in trying new foods.

Our School Council have played an important role in gathering pupil voice from across the school and sharing this with our kitchen staff, who have then created a ‘Favourites Day’ menu to allow the children in input into their lunch choices too.

Teaching children about their emotional health and wellbeing is also a key part of our school ethos. We have specific Wellbeing days planned into the curriculum to support the children settling back into school life after the holidays. We also have time built into our weekly timetables such as ‘Thoughtful Tuesdays’ or ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’. During these times, children are explicitly taught about feelings and emotions and strategies we can use to support them in being able to self-regulate and manage more difficult feelings and emotions. These lessons also provide the children with vital language and vocabulary to enable them in being able to effectively communicate how they are feeling and when they have a problem or worry. They also complement our PSED/PSHE curriculum by reinforcing how we can keep ourselves safe and knowing who safe people are to talk to.

Our school lunches

Here at Eastfield, we want to promote health and wellbeing, through nutrition, physical activity and positive mental health. This means we understand that our lunchtimes are an integral part of our school day.

As a school, we also strongly believe in the social benefits of children eating together in a ‘family’ atmosphere and so we use our school hall for our lunchtimes where the children are all able to sit together.

Every child in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to free school meals. A copy of our most up to date menu can be found below and is always emailed out to parents and carers at the start of each term. Our school menu changes over the year to reflect the time of year but also to encourage the children in trying a wide range of foods.

Throughout the year, our School Council collect pupil voice from across the school to help decide upcoming menu choices and have introduced a ‘Favourites Day’.

Mrs Dunn and her team work incredibly hard to ensure that we are able to cater for all children including those with dietary requirements or allergies. If you would like your child to have a school lunch but you have questions about allergies and dietary requirements, please contact our main school office who will happily help.

Although there is no need for you to book your child’s lunch, we always recommend parents and carers spend time going through the school menu with your child to help them in being able to make choices about what they would like to eat.

Packed lunches

Children who bring in packed lunches are encouraged to bring healthy food, wherever possible. There are currently no government regulations regarding the contents of children’s packed lunches. However the British Nutrition Foundation produced a set of guidelines recommending what could be included in lunch boxes to provide them with a healthy meal.

The recommended contents of a healthy lunch box are:

• A good portion of starchy food e.g. wholegrain roll, thick slice of bread, pitta pocket, plain cracker, pasta or rice salad.

• Plenty of fruit and vegetables e.g. an apple, satsuma, handful of cherry tomatoes or carrot sticks, mini can of fruit chunks (decanted into a plastic container), small box of raisins

• A portion of milk or dairy food e.g. individual cheese portion, pot of yogurt.

• A small portion of lean meat, fish or alternative e.g. 2 slices of ham, Quorn, cheese, tuna, egg or hummus.

• A drink e.g. small carton of fruit juice, no added sugar fruit squash.

• One small packet of crisps, a fruit scone or portion of malt loaf, a small cake or biscuit may also be included (please avoid chocolate as much as possible).

In addition, we would like to ask our parents and carers not to include:

• Nuts – We are a nut free school as we have several children who have severe nut allergies.

• Sweets

• Fizzy drinks.