Breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks are all provided within the nursery
day at Excel Kids Day Nursery & Contact Centre in Leytonstone. This
means parents do not need to prepare and pack a full day’s food every
morning.

Food is part of what families pay for. A £1 per day subsistence fee
applies and contributes to food provision.

Our meals are homemade, freshly prepared on site and planned across a
four-week rotating menu.

Food included in your fees

A typical nursery day includes five food moments:

• Breakfast: 8:30
• Mid-morning snack: 10:00
• Lunch: 11:00
• Tea Time: 15:00
• Late-afternoon snack: 17:00, before home time

Water is served with every meal. Low-sugar fruit drinks are served
with snacks. Milk is offered with some snacks in the Baby Room.

This gives children regular opportunities to eat, drink and try
different foods during the day.

Our nursery has a Food Hygiene Rating of 5, Very
Good.

How our menu works

We use a four-week rotating menu.

Each week runs from Monday to Friday. The menu then moves to the next
week:

Week 1 → Week 2 → Week 3 → Week 4 → back to Week
1

The menu is dated, so parents can see which week is running.

A nutrition column runs alongside each week. This shows how the meals
and snacks meet each child’s nutritional needs.

Our kitchen team prepares dishes on site. The menu is seasonal, so
the current rotation includes summer dishes and summer salads. It
refreshes through the year.

A week on our menu

The menu includes familiar foods, new tastes, fruit, vegetables,
homemade dips and different textures.

The examples below show the real dishes included across the four-week
rotation.

Week 1

Snacks may include:

• Carrot batons with Mexican red salsa
• Bitesize crackers with cheese spread
• Fresh sliced cucumber with homemade dip
• Fresh apple wedges and dried fruits
• Fresh bitesize pears with varied dried fruit
• Fromage frais and sultanas
• Diced pears and sultanas

Lunch dishes include:

• Tuna pasta
• Curly macaroni and cheese with petit pois and summer salad
• Oven-roasted chicken with Yorkshire puddings, peas and summer
  salad
• Fresh cod fish and sweetcorn pie with summer salad
• Vegetable chilli with wholegrain fluffy rice and summer salad

Tea Time dishes include:

• Sliced chicken salad sandwiches
• Low-calorie potato lattices with homemade dipping sauce
• Pitta bread dippers with baked haricot beans
• Meat-free cocktail sausages with smiley stars and gravy
• Mini potato waffles and carrots on melted cheese

Low-sugar fruit drinks are served with the listed tea dishes where
shown on the menu.

Week 2

Snacks may include:

• Fromage frais and dried fruit
• Apple wedges and a cheese platter
• Fresh melon lollies and dried fruits
• Cucumber batons with homemade dip
• Breadsticks and homemade dip
• Bitesize wholegrain crackers with cheese spread
• Homemade sweet and salted popcorn

Lunch dishes include:

• Savoury rice with vegetable ratatouille and sweetcorn
• Slow-cooked sausage ragu with pasta and Mediterranean salad
• Fish pie with mixed vegetables
• Seasonal mixed vegetable curry with rice and salad
• Locally sourced lamb mince and sweetcorn lasagne
• Jacket potatoes with melted cheese and haricot beans
• Grilled chicken goujons with pasta and summer salad

Tea Time dishes include:

• Mini breadsticks and cheese bites
• ABC learning waffles doused in spaghetti
• Cheddar cheese and summer tomato finger sandwiches
• Triangular hash browns with dip and fresh fruit
• Cod fishcake salad with home-baked vanilla sponge
• Sliced chicken salad finger sandwiches
• Raisins and crackers
• Summery bitesize assorted fruit

Week 3

Snacks may include:

• Carrot batons with homemade houmous dip
• Fromage frais and sultanas
• Pitta bread dippers with homemade sauce
• Apple wedges and a cheese platter

Lunch dishes include:

• Sautéed chicken and grated carrot risotto with summer salad
• Oven-baked potato wedges with haricot beans and summer salad
• Fat-free chicken puff pastry pie with summer salad
• Rectangular vegetable fingers with spaghetti hoops
• Sliced chicken salad sandwiches

Tea Time dishes include:

• Buttered bagel bites with cheese or chicken
• Bitesize cheese and tomato pizza with fruit smoothie
• Potato wedges with petit pois

Week 4

Snacks may include:

• Flatbread dippers with sauce
• Fromage frais and sultanas
• Bitesize wholegrain crackers with cheese spread
• Cucumber batons and dip
• Breadsticks and dip
• Cheese and crackers
• Pitta bread dippers with sauce
• Homemade sweet and salted popcorn

Lunch dishes include:

• Seasonal fresh rainbow pepper stir-fry curry with rice and
  salad
• Traditional homemade sausage toad in the hole with summer salad
• Locally sourced lamb meatballs melted with cheese and petit
  pois
• Fat-free chicken puff pastry pie with summer salad

Tea Time dishes include:

• Margarita pizza fingers with oven-baked potato wedges and salad
• Fish dippers in creamy mash
• Freshly made chicken salad sandwiches
• Square potato waffles with haricot beans
• Brown bread toast with melted cheese
• Vegetable soup with wholemeal bread fingers

Healthy eating habits

Fresh fruit and vegetables are provided daily. The menu also includes
whole grains such as wholegrain rice, wholemeal bread and wholegrain
crackers.

Other regular foods include:

• White fish and cod
• Chicken
• Locally sourced lamb
• Milk, cheese, fromage frais and yoghurt
• Homemade dips and sauces
• Vegetarian and meat-free dishes

Meat-free choices appear most weeks. These include vegetable chilli,
vegetable curry, meat-free sausages and rainbow pepper stir-fry.

Water and low-sugar fruit drinks are everyday drinks on the menu,
with a no-added-sugar approach.

Allergies and dietary needs

We follow the Food Information Regulations EU
1169/2011, also known as the FIR Regulations. These regulations
have been in force since 13 December 2014 and were introduced by the
Food Standards Agency with DEFRA.

We manage the 14 named allergens:

• Milk
• Egg
• Fish
• Crustaceans
• Molluscs
• Peanuts
• Tree nuts
• Sesame seeds
• Cereals containing gluten
• Soya
• Celery
• Lupin
• Sulphites
• Mustard

Meals are adapted for individual dietary and allergen
requirements.

We ask about requirements at registration and review them with
families. Parents should always speak to the team about their child’s
needs before starting and whenever those needs change.

Food as learning

Food is part of the curriculum at Excel Kids. It is not only about
sitting down to eat.

Children explore colours, tastes and textures through practical
activities. These can include:

• Making vegetable faces with broccoli, carrots, peppers and
  tomatoes
• Preparing fresh fruit with a citrus squeezer
• Using child-safe knives
• Making fresh fruit drinks
• Tasting food and talking about flavours

Mealtimes also support independence. Children practise serving, using
cutlery and pouring. They sit together, share, talk with friends and
build confidence.

These are useful skills for school readiness.

Food in the Baby Room

The Baby Room is for children aged 3 months to 2
years.

• Breakfast at 8:30: fresh fruit, warm toast, drinks
  and wholegrain cereal, including milk for bottle feeding
• Dedicated snack or milk time at 10:00: nutritional
  snacks in line with our home-from-home approach, using the same menu,
  plus milk for babies still milk-fed
• Lunch at 11:00: nutritious homemade dishes,
  including adaptations for special dietary requirements

The team discusses each baby’s feeding needs with parents.

What it costs and how
we support families

Food is included in the nursery day. A £1 per day subsistence
fee applies and contributes to food provision.

Nursery fees are £11.50–£15.50 per hour, depending
on your child’s funding eligibility. This is not age-based.

Other charges are:

• £25 non-refundable registration fee
• One-week refundable deposit

Discounts include:

• 10% sibling discount
• 10% fifth-day discount
• 10% NHS and Social Care staff discount

We support families who do not receive government funding. We can
also provide our Support to pay your fees information
and guidance about Waltham Forest funded hours for eligible 2-year-olds
and 3- and 4-year-olds.

You can read more on our fees and
funding page.

Quick Fee Reference

• Hourly fee: £11.50–£15.50, depending on funding eligibility
• Subsistence fee: £1 per day
• Registration: £25 non-refundable
• Deposit: one-week refundable deposit
• Discounts: 10% sibling, 10% fifth day, 10% NHS and Social Care
  staff
• Food: breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks provided within the nursery
  day

Excel Kids Day Nursery was rated Ofsted Good in
2023.

Visit Excel Kids in
Leytonstone

Hi, we are an independent home-from-home nursery for children aged 3
months to 5 years.

To ask about the current dated menu, dietary requirements, fees or
availability, speak to the team.

Excel Kids Day Nursery & Contact Centre
62 Hainault Road
Leytonstone
London E11 1EQ

Nursery telephone: 020
8556 1732

You can also visit our contact page
or submit an enquiry
form.

We look forward to speaking with you.