Healthy Steps Initiative

Kindred is leading the way in the Early Years world of physical activity and nutrition. Putting wellbeing at the heart of our nurseries.

Kindred Nurseries are very proud to be trailblazers in the world of wellbeing. We have invested in training our staff across our family to become Level 4 qualified Physical Activity and Nutrition Coordinators (PANco).

The wellbeing of our children, their families and our staff is at the core of everything that Kindred do. Our Healthy Steps initiative is going to further support us in our mission to create the best possible environment for our little ones to thrive.

What is a PANco, I hear you ask?

A Physical Activity and Nutrition Coordinator (PANco) is a specialist role which acts as a beacon for quality provision in the Early Years and has been designed as a wellbeing-in-action intervention that promotes positive nutrition and physical activity. It links closely to local and national strategies, including the obesity strategy.

Did you know: There will be around 250 million obese children by 2030 unless we all act and make the change now. This is one of the key factors that drove us to look for cutting edge initiatives that are aiming to tackle this area and create positive change for young children.

Our journey so far…

Qualified PANco in every setting

In 2020, each of our nurseries identified one person to complete their PANco qualification with training led by industry experts, Purple Bee Learning. As a qualified PANco each of our staff will:

develop skills and confidence to become an agent of change
put physical activity and nutrition guidelines into practice
support parents and families with healthy eating and physical activity at home
analyse what will motivate and help people to make positive behaviour changes
embed physical literacy throughout their setting
develop children’s resilience and independence
help their setting to meet and exceed Ofsted’s expectations around the health and wellbeing of children, families and their team
be a positive role model for healthy behaviours

This qualification is a recognised award and we have made it a central part of our personal development programme for Kindred staff. There are currently only 3000 PANcos in the UK and we will be adding an additional 19 to this number #proud.

New delicious, healthy menus

Our first project on the Health Steps initiative has been to refresh our menus. Eating well for life, means starting early. Our aim is to share our love of healthy, homecooked, tasty food with our children.

We have worked with Action for Children, Eat better, Start better initiative to develop our very own nutritious, homemade menus. We are proud to say that these menus have been accredited by a Children’s Nutritionist to ensure they meet the Government guidelines.

Nutrition...