Taking the sustainability pledge

The Pledge includes five key targets that can be broken down into small achievable, relatable and maintainable steps that are unique to each provision. They will reflect your starting point, the families you work with and the community you are based in.

The five targets are:

Reduce the use of plastics – particularly single-use items.
Cut down on waste by recycling, repurposing and reusing.
Minimise food waste.
Care for the world we live in.
Change perspectives and develop understanding in ourselves, our families and our children.

To support the project, we applied for a grant from our local cooperative to improve children’s outdoor learning.

The project was devised not only to benefit the children, but to also include their immediate family and the wider community in order to broaden their knowledge around sustainability.

The garden we created was an inspiring learning opportunity for the children to understand where food comes from as well as allowing them to understand the time, care and attention that goes into producing it. To plan the garden we initially sent home questionnaires to look at ideas and what the children would benefit from best. From this, we had lots of parent volunteer time and resources.

One family created a bug house out of reused wood. Another donated plants and tyres which help with the cost and was a good day to demonstrate to the children how items can be reused to create something new.

Having spoken to the children about what fruit and vegetables they liked, we bought a seed sack which provided detailed information about what and when to grow. The children have loved digging and planting and not everything has always turned out perfectly but is has been thoroughly exciting.

Lynne, director at Kids Club Group in Runcorn, explains how they have created a sustainable source of energy
Our system was installed in 2019 – we have 39 solar panels on our buildings which are south-facing. We generate roughly enough energy to run an average-sized family home each day and use and app to monitor the system daily, allowing us to view current generation and how the system is performing.

We have made significant savings. Our monthly electricity bills have reduced from around £400 in the summer months to around £150 and in winter from around £600 to around £400. Since they were installed we have achieved a CO2 reduction of 57.54 tonnes!

We are very fortunate to have a large wonderful outdoor environment in the countryside where we are situated. We try to share with children a love for nature, an appreciation of how we may take care of the natural world and learn to live our lives in a more sustainable way where we can.

The garden is available throughout the day and in all weathers. Some of our sessions are completely outdoors, with den buildings and campfires. But the natural world comes inside the setting too. We have a friendly robin who regularly visits the nursery building, much to the delight of the children.

Our pond garden is a hive of activity as the children pond-dip and see newts and toads during the year. Frog spawn, bought in from a separate pond, is inside the classroom in a carefully prepared tank. The life-cycle develops before their eyes and the froglets are then released back into their home pond.

Connecting with nature at an early age will embed a sense of wonder and appreciation for the world around us and create a desire to protect it that will hopefully last a lifetime.