The 1918 Education Act permitted Local Education Authorities to fund ‘nursery schools’ for children below the age of compulsory schooling. The aim of such schools was absolutely not for children to make an early start with academic education. They were conceived as compensatory institutions – where children from poorer families could be ‘nurtured’. This involved both supporting children’s physical and emotional well-being and helping them to develop good social skills. The nursery dinner played a crucial role in achieving this. What this really meant for the children in the inter-war period is explored here with reference to the work two key figures: the Nursery School pioneer, Margaret McMillan (1860-1931) and the organising secretary of the Nursery School Association, Phoebe Cusden (1887-1931).
The Experience
In her book, The Nursery School, McMillan explains that the children in her school were taught good habits and routines, for example by washing their hands before the meal. They sat in groups of four to six, at ‘gaily laid, flower-decked tables’ outside. Grace was sung with one teacher playing the piano, often with the accompaniment of the nearby canaries. The children served the food to each other and helped with the cleaning away. Cusden, in her book The English Nursery School, demonstrates similar values: groups should sit around attractive small tables and children serve and help each other.
The Food
The food was of course chosen for its nutritional value, according to the understandings of the time. McMillan understood that children could be overweight because they ate too much of the wrong food (she described them turning up at school with quantities of bread and jam) but at this time and among this social class malnourishment through lack of food was more likely. The menus in her school were varied to preserve interest, but there was always two courses, with a meat/fish/vegetable dish and a milky, fruity pudding. ‘Delicate’ children had extra orange juice and malt. McMillan believed her diet was particularly effective against rickets. Cusden drew on the latest nutritional information, arguing that food should contain proteins, fat and carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins and addresses key issues of the time, such as whether the food provided was too soft. She provided detailed diet sheets from different locations, all offering broadly similar fare to McMillan’s school. Each meal had a definite protein element and there was plenty of fruit, vegetables and custard (valued for its milk content).
Reflections
Most early years practitioners would recognise a great deal of the practice described above and see many ways in which it continues to serve as a good model –the attention to teaching children social skills, the warm family atmosphere and the focus on healthy eating. The typical nursery school dinner has sometimes influenced school meals in schools for older children too. However, we do not always achieve this ideal today. Too often, children queue up to have food slopped onto unattractive plastic trays and eat it in a rushed, noisy and stressful environment. The food may meet current nutritional standards – but actually this sort of experience is not conducive to fostering a love for any unfamiliar foods and embedding good habits. This is clearly an area in which we need to do better.
References
Cusden, P. (1938) The English Nursery School. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co Ltd.
McMillan, M. (1930) The Nursery School. London: J.M.Dent and Sons
Photo credit: Nursery School- Life at the Old Manor House, Wendover, Buckinghamshire, England, 1944, Ministry of Information, Wikimedia
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