The Food for Life Early Years Award

A Food for Life Early Years Award is a great way to demonstrate that your nursery or children's centre is giving every child in your care the best possible start to their food journey.

It shows the wider world you're providing tasty, nutritious meals in an environment that creates great social skills. You're also sowing the seeds of good food habits for life through practical cooking and growing activities and food-based learning - both for children and their parents and carers.

The award has been developed working closely with early years settings and using expert learning from our flagship schools award programme - which has shown through independent evaluation to make a positive contribution to pupil health and wellbeing.

Our great value awards packages are designed to support you through any changes you may need to achieve this. They are based on a flexible framework so you can approach your award in the way that works best for you.

These are available either to settings directly, or via a local authority commissioned programme where they are further enhanced by training and local 'on the ground' support.

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Watch our video about the Early Years Project in Nottinghamshire and read the report here.


Awards Packages

Whether you are just looking for fresh ideas or your nursery or children's centre is serving up both fantastic food and imaginative food education and you want to demonstrate this to the wider world, we have something for you. We offer two packages for you to choose from, the Food for Life Early Years Membership Package and the Food for Life Early Years Awards Package. 

  • Printed resources
  • Bringing communities together
  • Evidence-based
  • Good for children's health
  • Jamie Oliver recipes

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Early Years Awards Packages

Award Criteria

At each stage of your progression towards an award, we’ve set out clear guidance on what you need to do, and how you can do it.

Our expert team is on hand to help throughout your journey, so don’t feel you have to go it alone, and we can always put you in touch with other nurseries and children's centres that are happy to offer support and advice. There’s also our news and blogs if you’re looking for some inspiration.

  • Bringing communities together
  • Creating healthy places
  • Good for children's health
  • Good for improving education
  • Good for local enterprise & sutainability

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The Early Years Award criteria