Food and Nutrition
At Sand Dunes we recognise and encourage the need to promote healthy eating behaviours for our children, families and wider community. We annually renew our healthy heart award from the NZ heart foundation emphasising our commitment to providing an environment and a programme that promotes a combination of healthy food choices and an active movement focus.
Breakfast, morning tea, cooked lunch, afternoon tea and a late snack is provided by the centre’s cook. All meals are cooked on the premises using fresh and varied produce. We operate a four week menu that is changed seasonally (summer and winter) and we cater for individual food needs and allergies at no extra cost.
Water and milk is encouraged at all meal times. Fresh water is available to the children all day. Children are also encouraged to bring a named drink bottle to drink from throughout the day. A fresh fruit basket is also available daily.
An integral part of our food and nutrition policy is the involvement of our children on a daily basis to participate through a variety of learning areas which includes gardening, baking and food preparation ultimately encouraging healthy food and lifestyle choices.
We are currently developing a vegetable garden in partnership with the children. Starting from a seed initiative. This initiative involves our children in the process of picking their home grown vegetables from the garden and preparing them for meals. We believe this encourages the development of healthy eating behaviours, a respect for their environment and the living world around us.
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