Home The Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework and Quality Improvement Healthy Eating, Oral Hygiene and Notifiable Diseases

Healthy Eating, Oral Hygiene and Notifiable Diseases

The guidance aims to help early years practitioners meet health requirement in the EYFS Statutory Framework. 

 

Healthy Eating

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) nutrition guidance changes from September 2025

The Department for Education is committed to ensuring that all children in early years settings have the best possible start in life. As part of this, we are introducing new nutrition guidance in the EYFS statutory framework, which will replace the ‘Examples menus for early years settings in England’ guidance from September 2025.  

The new guidance has been developed with nutrition and sector experts. It will help early years providers understand how to meet the existing EYFS requirement: ‘Where children are provided with meals, snacks and drinks, these must be healthy, balanced and nutritious’. 

Good nutrition in the early years is crucial for setting the foundations for a lifetime of good health. From September 2025, providers will be required to have regard to the new nutrition guidance, meaning they must take it into account and should follow it unless there is good reason not to.   

To read the new nutrition guidance, visit Early Years Foundation Stage nutrition - GOV.UK. 

It is important to acknowledge that healthy eating habits in the early years are very important because they influence children's growth, development and academic achievement in later life.

Eating well, growing food, cooking, planning for meals and shopping for food will support children and young people to develop skills needed throughout their lives.

Within the Early Years Foundation Stage framework there is a requirement that states: ‘Where children are provided with meals, snacks, and drinks, these must be healthy, balanced and nutritious.’  

Establishing healthy eating habits at a young age is important for long-term health. As early years practitioners you can help set solid foundations for children’s future health by providing them with nutritious food in your settings.  

 

Help for Early Years Providers has added new nutrition content which including videos to help you fulfill the requirement to provide healthy, balanced and nutritious food for the children in your care.  Follow the link for more information; Help for early years providers : Nutrition (education.gov.uk)

The content:   

  • explains the importance of introducing good food habits from birth  
  • includes information on the dietary requirements of babies and young children and how to plan a balanced menu   
  • provides recipe cards for tasty, cost effective, nutritious recipes you can use in your settings  
  • gives tips on how to introduce solid foods safely to babies  
  • provides information on food safety   
  • links to further reading and resources   

 

For more guidance on supporting children in the early years, visit the Help for Early Years Providers website.  

Food allergens pose a significant risk to consumers with allergic conditions, which may even be life threatening. Children are particularly vulnerable because of their reduced level of control over the foods they eat. Childcare providers are responsible for making sure that they have allergen information to provide for the food they serve and that this is accurate, consistent and verifiable. The Food Standards Agency provides free online food allergen resources and training. 

 

Oral Hygiene

The EYFS Statutory Framework expects early years providers to promote children’s good health and oral hygiene, which should be introduced to children at an early age.  A child’s first experiences with dental hygiene and oral health can impact on the rest of their life.

The latest Oral Health Guidance from the Department for Education is  available on the Help for Early Years Providers website. 

The guidance:

  • Explains the importance of good oral health for early years children
  • Helps practitioners to meet the oral health requirement in the EYFS
  • Includes practical tips and activities to use in early years settings
  • Links to further reading and resources

Further Useful Resources for Oral Hygiene for children with SEND

 

Notifiable Diseases 

The EYFS states, settings must have a procedure, which must be discussed with parents and/or carers, for taking appropriate action if children are ill or infectious. This procedure must also cover the necessary steps to prevent the spread of infection

Guidance on health protection in schools and other childcare facilities which sets out when and for how long children need to be excluded from settings, when treatment/medication is required and where to get further advice can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities

Settings must complete this form to inform your local health protection team immediately about suspected notifiable disease cases.

Don’t wait for laboratory confirmation of the suspected infection or contamination before notification. Send the certificate to the proper officer within 3 days or phone them within 24 hours, if the case is urgent.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA, formerly Public Health England) aims to detect possible outbreaks of disease and epidemics as rapidly as possible. Accuracy of diagnosis is secondary, and since 1968 clinical suspicion of a notifiable infection is all that’s required.

‘Notification of infectious diseases’ is the term used to refer to the statutory duties for reporting notifiable diseases in the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 and the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010.

Promotional materials can be accessed by clicking the link: Infectious diseases: education and childcare settings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)