Food at Homerton
Breakfast
Breakfast is served in the Nest classrooms with children sitting around a table together. It consists of a plate of fresh fruit, followed by a choice of cereal and toast. Children are given milk or water to drink.
Snack
Snack consists of healthy choices such as fruit, vegetables and maybe rice cakes, crackers or breadsticks in addition. We invite children to bring in a snack to share with the other children in the class and families are free to choose whether they like to bring in a bag of fruit at a time to last a few days or just a piece of fruit each day.
Snack is available during both morning and afternoon sessions and children sit in small groups to share it together, providing a lovely opportunity to chat as well – often focusing on how many pieces the banana is cut into or making observations about the different types of plums we have that day for example!
Lunch
Children eat lunch with their class and lunchtime supervisors serve them the cooked food which is prepared for them onsite by our wonderful chef Angela. We can cater for allergies and a range of dietary requirements and menus are available for parents and children to see in advance. Lunch time provides another opportunity for children to chat together in small groups and also to develop independent skills when they clear away their own plates and cutlery.
Tea
Tea provides a nice opportunity for children to come together from different classes and enjoy each other’s company. Children are provided with a varied balance of tea time foods such as sandwiches, pizza slices, fruit, salad, wraps etc. and a drink of milk or water.
Cooking
We like to cook a range of things in the classrooms across the year – keeping ourselves safe is a key part of our cooking activities as children learn to keep their distance from the cooker. Sometimes we cook foods together which have an association to a particular time of year – such as pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, star shaped biscuits at Christmas or noodles / spring rolls at the Lunar New Year or we might make recipes which relate to something we are learning about such as porridge for Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Towards the end of the year, as our produce ripens at the allotment, it is particularly exciting to cook the potatoes we have grown or taste the raspberries or peas!
Whatever we are cooking, children are encouraged to join in, mix, pour, stir and importantly … taste! We talk about the process we go through to make the food and the changes we see when we cook and always enjoy hearing what the children have to say about the foods they enjoy with their families at home.