Going for Green: Our commitment to Eco-Schools

We’re very proud of our nurseries and the work they do to care for the environment, and how they teach our children the importance of doing so too. As part of this work, we’ve been committed to achieving Eco-schools Green Flag status in all of our nurseries since August 2021. As we grow and open new nurseries, the team are committed to having their Green Flag waving within their first year.

Eco-Schools is a global campaign started by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and in England the programme is operated by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy. Currently more than 18,000 schools are registered on the programme.

Why Eco-Schools?

Eco-Schools is pupil-led. This means our children get hands-on, real-world learning that can be expanded across the whole nursery and local community. It gives our nurseries an opportunity to be involved in exciting community projects – and make a difference!

This idea of social responsibility and working with the community is key to our values. They're at the heart of everything we do, and our parents and colleagues believe this is what makes us different. We support fair trade and local suppliers wherever possible and work alongside community groups to support children’s development, progress and their understanding of the world around them. So when we heard about Eco-Schools we couldn’t resist the opportunity to get involved!

How does it work?

There are three certificates Eco-Schools award to participating nurseries: Bronze, Silver, and that all-important Green Flag.

So what did we do on our way to Green Flag status? First, we elected an Eco-Committee in the nursery, which is made up of our pre-schoolers and the local nursery’s Eco Champion – usually one of our practitioners. The Eco-Committee then made a plan for their learning which is used to inform the nursery’s curriculum. Finally they evaluated this and produced a shiny new Eco-Code for each nursery – be it a commitment to increasing recycling, reducing the use of single-use plastic or whatever the children think of.

The brilliant thing about Eco-Schools is our children are at the heart of the decision-making for the impact this programme will have on both the nursery and the local community.

Committed to protecting the world around us

You’ll hear us say phrases like that a lot. Alongside Eco-Schools, we're also working hard behind the scenes to make our nurseries as environmentally friendly as they can be. This is one piece in the bigger picture! We’re currently working hard to, for example, reduce the use of single-use plastics in our nurseries – we’re banning straws, banning glitter, reducing the use of plastic gloves, and working alongside our suppliers to reduce single-use plastics in the packaging our food arrives in.

At Little Pioneers, we take social responsibility very seriously, as one of our core values it complements the teaching our Little Pioneers do.

What does this all mean?

Put simply, this means that our children will make a big difference to the nursery, the local community, and even their home life. Teaching them to care for the world around them and take responsibility for their environmental impact at such a young age is a brilliant cause and one we cheer on with pride!

We believe this programme will have a real impact in the years to come, as we’re raising up a generation of little environmental champions! It’s already making a bigger impact than you’d think, with the children really taking this ethos home – doing things like making recycled bird feeders for their grandmas!

We’ll end on a brilliant example. One of the parents from our Leamington Nursery got in touch to say how impressed they were with the programme. They were out shopping and their child started telling them off: ‘Mummy, you can’t use plastic bags – they’re bad for the environment!’ The child then went on to explain that instead they should use material or hessian bags. The parent was so impressed that their child had gained so much knowledge from their Eco Schools work in our Pre-School!

To find out more about our Pre-School (and our Eco-Schools programme) arrange a visit to your local nursery.

Healthy Living and Wellbeing

Our Eco-Schools work is just one part of our much wider Healthy Living and Wellbeing programme, which will be launching across our nurseries over the coming months.

From nourished tummies to nurtured minds, we are committed to helping little ones have the best possible wellbeing they can - inside and out.

We'll be sharing lots more information about our programme very soon - so keep your eyes peeled!

Visit us

We'd love to show you around your local nursery. After all, you'll only truly know if we're the right nursery for you and your family be taking a look around.