Preschool Briefing

In the first of our series of NOF briefings, we explore food and nutrition provision and education in Preschools across Essex.

Access a quick reference overview of what facilities, meals and snacks look like in preschools, hear about the opportunities as well as the barriers experienced in terms of parent-provided food, and engage in the debate around the forthcoming responsibility for healthy lunchboxes as introduced by the new EYFS Nutrition Guidance (DfE, 2025).

The cost of food and children’s increasing food preferences are creating significant challenges for preschool practitioners and parents, yet they are responding with a positive and proactive outlook; meeting the urgent need to support children to develop a healthy relationship with food, through innovative education and early food experiences.

One preschool commented:

‘At our next staff meeting we are putting together a lunch box sheet to hand out to our new parents to support them choosing a healthy lunch for their children when coming to our pre-school, and we are looking forward to making soup with our bullet!’

The report shows that although there is a great deal of excellent work being done by preschools across Essex, there is a need for urgent action to improve the nutritional landscape for young children, including improving children’s relationship with food.

We would like to see appropriate national funding for preschools to allow them to provide healthy food for all children. However, simply replacing lunchboxes with setting-provided food for one meal a day won’t solve the wider issues for the child or their family.

We must support all families in being able to access affordable, healthy food alongside appropriate nutritional advice, because healthy food should be available to all. Of course, there are much wider societal issues around the prevalence of convenience, ultra processed food and the targeted marketing of foods that are high in fat salt and sugar, and tackling this also needs to be a priority.