London’s Deputy Mayor for Education and Childcare, Joanne McCartney, today visited Little Adventurers Nursery & Little Poppets Childcare in Havering to celebrate both providers’ success in achieving bronze and silver status in the Mayor of London’s Healthy Early Years London award scheme.
Little Adventurers Nursery & Little Poppets Childcare have received the awards in recognition of their efforts to improve their children’s oral health, nutrition, wellbeing and environmental awareness. Both providers pride themselves on making the children feel at home and host family community days and workshops for parents, and they are now working towards obtaining the Mayor’s Healthy Early Years London Gold award.
The Deputy Mayor saw first-hand the impact their work is having as she observed children at Little Adventurers having calcium-rich snacks and practising good dental care by brushing their teeth under supervision. Joanne also learned about the Little Poppets Childcare vegetable patch, its partnership work with an early-years nutritionist and the importance it places on regular outings to local parks, ponds and woodland.
At Little Poppets Childcare the Deputy Mayor heard about the childminders’ commitment to fair-trade and ecological care as well as its strategy for engagement with parents. The provider works in partnership with young families to help children learn about their own health, the food they eat and recycling.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is supporting early years education and childcare providers in creating healthier environments for the children they serve. His Healthy Early Years London award scheme gives Bronze, Silver and Gold status to providers which actively encourage children to learn about their health and empower them to develop lifelong healthy habits.
Deputy Mayor for Education and Childcare, Joanne McCartney, said: “It is vital that London’s children are given the tools they need to look after their physical and mental health.
“By teaching children about where food comes from and encouraging them to make their diet and wellbeing a priority at home, our Healthy Early Years London programme empowers children and their parents, guardians and teachers to make healthy choices every day.
“The staff and students at Little Adventurers Nursery & Little Poppets Childcare should be very proud of their hard work in achieving the bronze and silver awards. I hope their example inspires more Early Years providers in Havering to join the Healthy Early Years London award scheme.”
Childminder, Little Poppets Childcare, Jenny Schol said: HEYL has been a fantastic framework and award programme Little Poppets Childcare has been very proud to be part of. We have made improvements to children""s health and well-being, focusing on education and hands on experience relating to nutrition.
“As a vegan and eco-friendly setting, children eat a healthy plant based diet and have increased their knowledge and skills to understand where their food comes from, how it gets to their plate and how they can eat more healthily. Children grow their own fruits, vegetables and herbs at the settings allotment and share the results of their growing activities with their families. Families have been inspired by their children’s activities, and as a result are encompassing more plant based foods into their diet.”
Business Development Manager at Little Adventurers Nursery, Chris Ford, said: “We are very proud of our Silver Award and all of our achievements so far; healthy lifestyles are central to our ethos and this type of initiative is part of our growing commitment and belief in social responsibility. This year our aims include becoming a more environmentally friendly nursery, we feel very honoured to host this visit by the Deputy Mayor and it is fantastic to be recognised for the wonderful difference it is making to our early years children and their families.”
Councillor Robert Benham, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Education, Children and Families, said: “It is great news that Little Adventurers Nursery & Little Poppets Childcare has been recognised for the work they are doing that is helping to change young people’s lives. This is very much at the heart of what we are about in Havering. That is why we welcome this visit and are so proud of both our staff and students for their hard work and dedication which has led to their award. It is very much deserved.
Early Years Quality Assurance Manager for Havering, Celia Freeth said: “We were delighted to have been selected to take part in the pilot for Healthy Early Years London as it complimented our work in establishing good dental hygiene. The oral health initiative provides information about developmental norms, nutrition, portion sizing and the consequences of neglected teeth for under 5s.
“Embedded within this programme is a key section which supports the introduction of supervised tooth brushing activities in settings. The scheme has been extremely successful and has been instrumental in supporting us to achieve our aim of giving every child the healthiest start to life.
“We are committed to ensuring that opportunities for children are not limited by poor physical, mental or emotional health. I am pleased to say that we will continue to fully fund this programme.”