Nursery children have to blow out birthday candles on a wooden cake — after pre-school ban the real thing
NURSERY children have to blow out birthday candles on a wooden cake — after snack police staff banned the real thing.
They are even barred from giving out celebratory sweets to pals and are told to bring in stickers instead.
It is all part of the pre-school’s healthy eating regime, which involves staff searching lunch boxes for banned snacks, including smoothies or jam sandwiches.
Emma Clarke, 34, whose four-year-old son Archie attends Cippenham Nursery School in Slough, Berks, said he had told her about the wooden cake.
She added: “It’s made of wood and somebody’s painted it so it looks like actual cake with holes in for candles.
“They are little kids. Aren’t birthdays all about cake?”
Emma, also mum to Isla, eight, claimed Archie was prevented from eating a 99-calorie pack of mini Maryland cookies on his first day — and had a bag of 79-calorie Pom-Bear crisps removed in the same week.
She was then given a list of rules on how to pack a balanced lunch.
Emma said: “I told them I wasn’t happy with them taking food off him. I put a note in his lunch box telling them not to remove items — and they still did.
“They open up the lunch boxes and take the items out in front of the children.”
The nursery says the vast majority of parents are supportive.
Head Nisha Gill added: “We whole-heartedly stand by our policy of encouraging healthy choices for the children.