Nine Busy Bees Nurseries located in Lancashire have received the nationally accredited ‘Lancashire Healthy Schools Award,’ after 18 months working towards the award.

The Lancashire Healthy Schools Programme is organised by Lancashire County Council in partnership with the local North, Central and East Lancashire NHS, and aims to raise educational achievement to improve health in childcare settings across the Lancashire area, acting as an indicator of quality to parents.

To gain the quality award, each of the nine nurseries worked hard to demonstrate high standards of achievement in six key areas of care, including Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Emotional Health and Well-Being. The nurseries collated evidence of extra-curricular activities, including dance, music and language lessons, created allotments and sensory gardens, and also worked in partnership with parents to put together a list of recommended healthy snacks when bringing food from home. ‘Pupil Forums’ were created to gain children’s views on nursery menus, outdoor activities, and their feelings on how their learning experiences could be improved.

The nurseries worked together to share good practice, ideas and training, and a member of staff from each site attended Social and Emotional Aspects of Development (SEAD), a training scheme which is linked closely to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

Each of the nurseries will be presented with an award and a plaque to mark their achievement at an official award ceremony in July.

Margaret Randles, Operations Director at Busy Bees, is delighted that the nurseries efforts have been recognised, commenting, “Working towards these standards has been an invaluable tool in helping the nurseries to evaluate and share their practice, make improvements, change attitudes and introduce new initiatives.