Wellbeing
Healthy children at Simply Cherish
Childcare is not just about learning through play and new experiences. We also recognise how important your child’s health is, so we ensure that all children at Simply Cherish receive a healthy, balanced diet.
Healthy meals, good food habits
A great way to encourage children to eat healthily is to help them develop healthy eating habits. A balanced and nutritious diet is really important, so the meals and snacks we provide are designed to make a positive contribution to your child’s healthy development.
On a full-day place the kitchen serves breakfast between 8:00am and 8:30am, a hot two-course lunch at 11:30am, and a light tea at 3:15pm. Children also take part in preparing food — threading fruit, stirring a mixture, tasting what they have made — so eating well is something they do, not only something that arrives on a plate.
Healthy, strong teeth
It’s not just what children are eating, but what they’re eating with. We provide flexible dental hygiene routines for all our children, and we encourage the development of their personal dental care.
Routines flex around the age of the child. Babies are not expected to manage a toothbrush the way a four-year-old can, but every room builds the habit so dental care feels ordinary by the time children leave for school.
Breastfeeding
At Simply Cherish we respect the personal choices parents make, and we can offer information, advice and support to all breastfeeding mothers coming to us. We’re happy to discuss any needs you have in order to support you while your child attends Simply Cherish.
Formula milk is included in the fees up to one year of age. If you are expressing, or you want to feed at drop-off or collection, tell your child’s key carer and we will make the space for it.
Exercise and risk
Physical play helps children connect with one another and the world. It develops vital nerve connections between nerve cells and the brain and it brings with it growing motor skills, social interaction and personal awareness. It also contributes greatly to the development of language and problem-solving skills and encourages creativity.
We recognise and encourage physical play because of all these things. Children are natural risk-takers and will seek out a challenge. Our role is to enable this to happen while always providing a safe and secure environment for the children in our care.
Professional partnerships
As part of our professional childcare services, we build professional partnerships with other agencies that offer support to the families whose children we look after. These include outreach workers, support teams and health visitors.
If a family needs more than the nursery can offer on its own, we will say so and help make the introduction. Emily leads support for children with SEND and for children who are learning English as an additional language, working with the child’s key carer and with you.
Early Years Foundation Stage
We want every child at Simply Cherish to have the best possible start in life in order to fulfil his or her potential. Working to the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, we can look at the individual needs and interests of children, see what stage of development they’re at, and plan the right kind of challenging and enjoyable experiences for them.
Every child starts on an individual learning journey as part of this framework, and we’re available to discuss learning and development regularly with parents.
How the key carer fits in