Southampton Healthy Early Years Award (HEYA)

• "It brought physical activity back to the top of my agenda. The children have enjoyed their new experiences and commented ‘that was fun’ on the way home."
• "It has developed the children's knowledge around healthy eating, trying new foods, sharing with families things they have learnt and tried."
• "Parents are more aware of the choices they make and have more variety in their children's lunch boxes."
• "It has been great for the team to work towards the award together. It has positively impacted our planning and conversations."
• "Staff have shown lots of interest in finding healthier recipes to use in the rooms, staff have also been enjoying the new menus for their own lunches."
• "Really enjoyed it! Seeing the children using their different motor skills and trying out new activities was great to see. Knowing parents have taken on board what you have explained to them and walking their toddlers into sessions is great."
• "Raised awareness of portion sizes and having a healthy mix foods. Parents have also asked for copies of recipes of foods served on the snack table over the course of this award."
• "In the team it has raised awareness, importance, knowledge, refreshing policy etc, team build (all staff joining in with outside physical agencies)."
• "It has promoted more opportunities to talk about feelings and emotions/regulation- investing in this to be 'the norm', open conversations and support for parents which benefit the children."
• Key person getting to know key group better/on an emotional level and what their needs/'love languages' are- eg positive affirmation/praise, cuddles etc."
• It has built more of a support network for parents and families: better parent partnership, positive parenting at home, having more conversations, knowing how important mental health and well-being is."
• "The example self-assessment is very helpful to fill in the form."
• For some parents it has made them think about what their children do , especially amount of time they spend on tablets."
• "Children are looking forward to toothbrushing so they can complete their chart. Parents are becoming more interested and asking more questions and for more training."
• "Parents understand our philosophy and ethos more for healthy eating by doing this award. Parents are making healthier meals at home."
• "We are able to offer advice and support around oral hygiene and especially teeth brushing to the parents who then have the information to be able to keep their children’s mouth healthy."

You can hear more views of the award from our providers by watching the Southampton Healthy Early Years Award video:

Working towards the Southampton HEYA will help you to:

• Create a healthier environment for children by meeting standards on good quality nutrition, oral health and physical activity and mental health & wellbeing.
• Improve outcomes for children through healthy eating, positive oral health and physical activity and supporting overall wellbeing.
• Follow a clear structure to meet best practice guidance and advice
• Support your staff to increase their own knowledge and awareness of under 5s nutrition, oral health and physical activity and mental health & wellbeing.
• Role model healthy behaviours and  good practice
• Provide clear and consistent messages to parents /carers and children on all aspects of HEYA to support home learning and the home environment.
• Provide evidence to support the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory requirements and enable reflective practice for self-evaluation, with links to observational tools such as ECERS-R, ITERS-R and FCCERS-R rating scales.
• Build on a whole healthy setting approach.
• Complete the Healthy Eating bronze level of the Southampton HEYA to support progression towards the silver Healthy Mouth Award.

The following early years and childcare providers hold one or more current awards:

• Bevois Town Community Pre-school
• Brook Early Years
• Emma and Mikes Little Kingdom
• Foundry Lane Preschool
• Happy Bunnies Pre-school
• Harefield Community Pre-school
• Hopscotch Day Nursery Portswood
• Hopscotch Day Nursery Regents Park
• Jane's House
• Joann Curry
• Joanne Hartnell-Parker
• Kanes Hill Pre-school
• Ladybirds Pre-school (Parkside)
• Ladybirds Pre-school (Porchester Road)
• Little Berries
• Little Berries Pre-school - Bassett
• Little Sprouts Childcare
• Mansbridge Community Pre-School
• Natasha Avery
• Oasis Academy Lordshill Pre-school
• Olive Tree Pre-school
• Over the rainbow childminding – Toni Southwell
• Paint Pots Pre-school - St Marks
• Paint Pots Pre-school - Testwood Road
• Paint Pots Preschool and Nursery Sholing
• Paint Pots Pre-school and Nursery Swaythling
• Paint Pots Preschool and Nursery Waterloo Road 
• Paint Pots Pre-school Howard Road
• Play Away City Day Nursery
• Redroofs Nursery
• Rise and Shine Childcare
• Riverside Pre-school CIO
• Southampton Family Hub Central
• Southampton Family Hub East
• Southampton Family Hub West
• Squirrels Corner Pre-school
• St James Nursery and Pre-school
• Startpoint Northam Pre-school
• Startpoint Sholing Nursery
• Sticky Fingers Pre-School - Newlands
• Sticky Fingers Pre-School - Redbridge
• Sticky Fingers Pre-School - Spring Road
• Sticky Fingers Pre-School - Tanners Brook
• Susie’s Childcare
• Taplins Nursery SGH
• The Mulberry Bush Bitterne Park
• The Nest Childcare
• Tickleford Pre-school
• Trust Taplins Childcare
• Wizkidz Childminding

The bronze awards are designed to be a simple way for settings to start on the programme, guiding you through any necessary changes to policy and practice in either physical activity, healthy eating or mental health & wellbeing and completing a self-assessment form. Training is not required at this level. Please ensure that you read through the flowchart and theme standards.

Settings need to consult with the relevant groups (including staff, committees, owners and parents), download the relevant themes and standards and review these in light of their current practice. Once required changes have been identified, the setting should make the necessary changes to their practice.

Following this, the setting needs to complete the self-assessment form and submit, along with the necessary additional evidence, all of which is clearly listed on the flowchart. Depending on the size of the setting and the number of changes required, we anticipate the bronze level to be worked on over a period of a term (although this may be quicker, particularly for settings already meeting the required standards).

View the Bronze Award Flowchart.

To move on to this level, you will have completed both healthy eating and physical activity at Bronze level within the last three years. You may have also chosen to complete the MH&W, but this is not essential at this stage. 

The Silver Award involves settings sending 1-2 staff representatives to a 2 ½-hour training session for each aspect of the award: healthy eating and physical activity. Settings are required to cascade the training to other team members and to demonstrate that this has been done. Support and training will be provided in your setting for the Healthy Mouth Award.

Each session is fully funded and therefore provided free of charge for Southampton providers. Settings are required to produce an action plan to identify and address development areas highlighted at bronze level, or in the self-assessment form or during the training. This would include more challenging aspects of provision, such as the setting’s approach to birthdays and addressing portion sizes for healthy eating, achieving good oral health habits or making changes to identified areas for physical activity.

The setting then works through the identified areas, making the required changes before completing a silver self-assessment form and submitting along with the necessary evidence for assessment by the HEYA team. Please see the flow chart for all evidence required to assess the submission.

Depending on the size of the setting and the number of changes required, it is anticipated that the silver level to be worked on over 2-3 months, although this may take more or less time depending on the setting.

View the Silver Award flowchart.

To move on to this level, you will have completed the following within the last three years:

• Bronze Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Silver Healthy Eating
• Silver Physical Activity
• Silver Healthy Mouth 

By working through all of the awards, settings will have progressively made positive changes impacting on the setting, the practitioners, the parents and families. This helps everyone to make healthier choices and changes for life. Completing the Gold award will enable settings to take this further, really making a measurable difference to families.

Please see the full information about the Gold award and the Gold renewal process.

Attendance at a relevant training session, delivered by the HEYA team, is required for all Silver awards. This training must be cascaded to your teams in order to successfully pass silver awards.

Training is subsidised and therefore delivered free to Southampton Early Years providers. Charges will apply for settings based outside of the City boundaries. 

Training may be held at Startpoint Sholing or online. The Healthy Mouth training may be delivered in your setting. Anyone currently working at bronze level is also welcome to join a training session.

If you are renewing a silver award, further attendance at training is recommended and may be required again.

Training dates are organised in response to need.  If you are undertaking one of the silver awards for the first time, please email the HEYA team: HEYA@southampton.gov.uk to discuss training.

Some settings may work through HEYA awards, progressing from bronze through to gold at a steady pace and keeping their HEYA status up to date during this process. However, others may wish to stop at bronze or silver level, meaning that certificates will expire after three years.

If not being superseded by a higher award, in order to keep HEYA status validated, settings will need to renew an award when it expires. This will mean reviewing all of the relevant criteria, policy etc., completing the self-assessment form and re-submitting.

This is required because over the 3-year period, practice, children families and staff change and it is important to review, reflect and refresh practice and policies to ensure that standards are maintained. This is good practice for all aspects of early years provision.

One of the HEYA team may be in contact if your award is due to expire to discuss options. However it is a setting's responsibility to ensure that expiry dates shown on certificates are observed . Settings should not continue to  use relevant logos and HEYA status for expired awards. If you have any queries, don’t hesitate to contact us.

The revised Healthy Early Years Award was developed in 2017 by a number of individuals and organisations including Solent NHS Trust, Annemarie Aburrow RD BSc (Hons) PGDip Expert Dietitian, Southampton Early Years and Childcare Team and Southampton Oral Health Educators. HEYA resources were adapted for the Healthy Mouths theme by Dr Devika Vadher (Clinical Fellow in Dental Public Health) and Dr Jeyanthi John (Consultant in Dental Public Health).

The HEYA quality assurance panel is made up of a selection of representatives from these various organisations.

Reception classes are welcomed and encouraged to participate in the Healthy Early Years Award. We work closely with the Healthy High Five team and your school can work with both schemes. Find out more about Healthy High Five.

Active travel is good for health and wellbeing as well as increasing focus at work. It’s also good for the environment and may reduce costs.

The My Journey website will help you to find information for workplaces to support staff to walk and cycle to work, including grants to support the infrastructure of cycling to work (bike racks, lockers) and cycle confidence training.

My Journey is also working with early years settings to encourage alternatives to car travel when travelling to an early years setting. By promoting walking and scooting for journeys to a preschool, nursery or childminder, you can keep children active and reduce congestion and pollution in your local area. You will find some ideas and activities in the early years section.

In autumn 2022 a new award was introduced, focusing on the mental health & wellbeing of children, staff and parents. This award is only mandatory if a setting wants to achieve a Gold award.

Looking after your staff’s health and wellbeing can improve their attendance, productivity, and support the retention of staff in the longer term.

You can find out more about the award here.

• Assessment of Bronze Awards: £50:00 per hour (a typical assessment takes one hour but may take longer)

• Assessment of silver awards:£50:00 per hour (a typical award will take 1.5 - 2 hours to assess)

• Attendance at pre-arranged training already running for other Southampton settings (per person): £50

• Silver training Physical Activity (2.5 hours) at provider setting for team: £200 (travel expenses may apply)

• Silver training Healthy Eating (2.5 hours) at provider setting for team: £200 (travel expenses may apply)

• Charges will be made for mileage @ 45p per mile and travel time at £25 per half hour for any training outside of Southampton City