Youngsters and staff at a Market Drayton nursery are celebrating after being recognised for their healthy eating habits.
Mount Lane Day Care Nursery has been awarded the Platinum Healthy Eating Award by Shropshire Council for its work in encouraging families to make healthy food choices.
The award comes as the nursery prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary after it was started by former nursery nurse Angela Watkiss and her husband Andrew in 1990.
It caters for more than 200 children, has 28 staff and is the only nursery in north Shropshire to be given both the platinum award and an outstanding rating by Ofsted inspectors which it received last year.
Andrew said: “We’ve always had a healthy eating policy and we try to use as much locally-produced food as possible.
“When Shropshire Council set up this Healthy Eating Award, we thought we’d go for it and aim for the top level.
“We didn’t have to make any changes to what we were doing but it was a rigorous examination which the nursery passed with flying colours.
“All our staff were involved in it, including the kitchen staff, and it was very much a team effort.”
The award is given to organisations which meet a number of criteria, including good standards of food hygiene, provision and promotion of healthy food choices and breast-feeding facilities for mothers with newborn children.
The nursery is one of only four organisations in the Market Drayton area to receive the award, along with Tern Hill Army Barracks, Hinstock Manor residential home and Woodcroft nursing home.
Nursery cook Sue Fair, whose husband Chris is head chef at Woodcroft, said: “We just had to make sure we were doing everything by the guidelines laid down, including not using fat in foods, serving vegetables every day and making sure the kitchen was well-maintained.
“We’ve had positive feedback from everybody, they can see that we’re trying to keep the standards high and we want the best for the children, as do the parents.”
