1. Nutrition Training

The Directors and Cooks need to attend a nutrition course which is accredited. The course covers nutrition for children, menu planning and assessment, nutrition policy and creating a supportive eating environment. Directors are expected to attend 9 hours of training and cooks may choose to attend all 9 hours or just attend the first 6 hours.

After the course, the Director and Cook submit an assignment to the SRER Project Officers. This includes:

• Two weeks of the centre menu, showing that the menu provides 50% of a child’s daily nutritional requirements

• An updated nutrition policy that covers important nutrition issues for child care centres.

2. Food Hygiene Training

Centres also need to train staff in food hygiene. Most centres choose to do this by using an ‘in house’ training kit such as Bug Busters which consists of a DVD and quiz sheets supplied through the local council. This training is an easy way for staff to be trained and it can be used in-house for all current and new staff. All staff complete the food hygiene true/false quiz to show that they are competent in food hygiene.

3. Site Visit

At the site visit, the SRER dietitian observes the eating environment and ensures that all award criteria are met. The centre needs to provide a copy of a recent AFSA (Australian Food Safety Audit) or equivalent from their Environmental Health Officer (EHO). They also need to submit a log of staff attending food safety training.

More questions? See FAQs

When the site visit has been completed and all criteria are met,
your Centre receives the Start Right - Eat Right Award!

SRER awarded centres (PDF 191KB)