Most children require a snack at morning break to keep them going through the day.
We encourage children to bring in healthy snacks full of vitamins and minerals containing no added salt, fat or sugar. Many of these will help contribute to their 5 daily portions of fruit and vegetables, keep them alert and help them concentrate. It can be hard during the week to think of suitable items for them to bring in to school, but we are aiming, with the help of the children, to not only support them in making healthy choices regarding snacks, but to also reduce food packaging and waste.
Providing snacks in a small, named, recyclable container is ideal. Children in EYFS and KS1 have a daily snack of fruit or veg provided for free by the government, so additional snacks for these ages may not be required.
If you are intending to send in healthy snacks with your child please limit them to the list below.
- Vegetable sticks – such as celery, cucumber, peppers or carrot, a range of colour ensures different vitamins and minerals.
- A piece of cheddar cheese or babybel
- A piece of fresh or dried fruit, high in soluble fibre and vitamins would also be a great snack– pineapple, mango, kiwi, plain raisins, apricots, blueberries, banana slices.
- Bread sticks, plain pretzels, banana bread, malt loaf, oat/rice cakes and small pitta breads are also good snacks, providing children with carbohydrate to sustain them in-between meals.
- Homemade snack - flapjacks or other oat/whole grain based snack. These must be nut free. Items brought into school should be carefully checked by you, to ensure this. Avonwood has pupils who are severely allergic to a range of nuts.
We are aiming for a common-sense approach, with the key being to keep it healthy and no chocolate, sweets or crisps.
We need the children to stay hydrated and so please ensure they bring a named water bottle into school daily. Squash and fruit juice are not permitted. We hope that with your help, we can encourage the children to develop healthy eating habits that become a normal part of everyday life. By keeping high calorie snacks to a minimum and establishing healthy eating habits early on, improvements can be made for a child’s quality of life both in the short and long term.