Snack and Lunch Guidance

Home packed lunches and playtime snack - see guidance below (06/09/2023)

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are writing to clarify our expectations on packed lunches and playtime snacks.

There is an increasing issue with childhood obesity and tooth decay and we want to support parents as much as possible to make healthy choices for their children’s meals. There is also said to be a link between a high sugar intake and poor behaviour.

Herts Catering, who provide Little Green school dinners must adhere to very strict nutritional guidelines about what can and cannot be included in school meals. This includes any salt, sugar and saturated fats. All menus compiled must meet these standards and all recipes are scrutinised for their nutritional content before being passed to the kitchen. This means that although the children will sometimes have puddings, cakes or chips for example, these are sourced and cooked in a healthier way and are presented as part of a balanced menu over the week. We understand that it is sometimes hard to explain this to children, who may see their friends as being allowed to have something on school meals that are not as packed lunches, but we can control the sugar, salt and fat content of school lunches in a way that we cannot with packed lunches.

In the past, we have tried to ensure that packed lunches are of a similar healthy standard to school meals, but we recognise that it can be difficult to navigate the array of different types of foods and to ensure variety in packed lunches.

To clarify our rules for packed lunches, they can include anything so long as there are no nuts (to safeguard those with allergies), sweets or chocolate bars and only water to drink. Cakes and biscuits are allowed in moderation.

Please follow this link should you like some packed lunch ideas and tips.

https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes/

Snacks should only be fresh or dried fruit or vegetables (not crisps or cereal bars). 

Kind regards

Little Green Team