Marvellous Mealtimes Blog

Environments

Hi, I’m Jennifer Laverty and I’m the SEYO at Avonbridge ELC Class. This blog will explore the journey we took to develop our mealtime environment and embed the Marvellous Mealtime values into our setting.

We began our Marvellous Mealtime journey in April 2021 and since then have been privileged to have the support of some amazing practitioners including Donna Green and Gemma Paterson. At the beginning of our journey, we reflected on how we embed the Marvellous Mealtimes values into the space. We wanted mealtimes to be relaxed and unhurried and to be a positive social experience for our wee people.

Initially we identified the need for a new round table and chairs instead of the rectangular table with benches. We felt that most of our children struggled to sit still on the benches which created lots of spills and accidents. The circle table made an immediate improvement and we felt that children were more relaxed when eating and had more opportunities to chat to everyone at the table. This created an overall more relaxed and unhurried mealtime experience.

We then looked at the surrounding environment of the mealtime space and introduced natural backing, some soft lighting, and plants to create a nurturing space. The use of tablecloths and flowers for the centre of the table promote a more home like environment.

Literacy, in particular the vocabulary, is part of our Improvement Plan and so a big part of our mealtimes is to ensure that we are promoting social interactions to develop literacy skills. We added children’s family photos to the space to add a piece of home for them. These photos are great at promoting positive interactions between the children as well as the adults during mealtimes and throughout the day.

We took feedback from our Marvellous Mealtimes support, Tracey Sharples, and looked at what areas of development have been recommended including the introduction of smaller glass jugs to reduce spills and face cloths to promote independent face washing after meals. We have also received support from our Community Speech and Language Therapist who has completed a visual environment audit and will be supporting us on ways to include more stage appropriate visuals to support our learners at mealtimes.

With Marvellous Meals, it’s essential to find a way that works for your setting. As one of the smallest settings in the council we have found that systems that may work for other settings don’t quite fit for us and we have continued to develop our mealtime space and provision over the last 2 years. We have tried different things, some that have worked, some that haven’t. We have had to adapt the environment to suit the needs of our wee people as children leave and new children start. It has been an evolving process and we are always reflecting on ways to improve.

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