This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Early Years Advisory Teacher, Sharon Rose for the attention of all Early Years settings.
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 Stage Nutrition