Sustainability in the Early Learning Centre

Early childhood is a wonderful time to involve children in education for sustainability and to develop lifelong sustainable practices. This ensures the respect and protection of each other and our planet. Our aim in the Early Learning Centre (ELC) is to promote a positive and proactive attitude towards sustainability. We believe that it is important to engage the children in developmentally appropriate practices that meet their level of understanding and help them make connections with prior understandings of the environment and the world around them.

Early childhood is a wonderful time to involve children in education for sustainability.

“Children have a natural affinity towards nature. Dirt, water, plants, and small animals attract and hold children’s attention for hours, days, even a lifetime.” – Robin C. Moore and Herb H. Wong.

Sustainability begins with making a connection to nature. The children in Campbell House are given many opportunities to connect with nature through daily experiences. Children engage in planned and spontaneous opportunities to explore, observe, question and investigate the natural world around them. Children revel in their discoveries of living and non-living things. These discoveries provide provocations for further learning. There are also times when the teaching program pursues learning through planned classroom and outdoor inquiries in relation to sustainability.

The children in the St Catherine’s Early Learning Centre are given many opportunities to connect with nature through daily experiences.

Throughout the year, the children have engaged in a number of investigations in relation to the environment and sustainability. A walk around Campbell House reveals projects and discussions involving the growth of seeds and plants, recycling practices, investigations into the seasonal changes, a study of trees and birds, children saving food scraps for the worm farm and the observation and care of living creatures.

The ELC children have engaged in saving food scraps for the worm farm.

We have recently set up a ‘recycling station’ in the foyer of Campbell House and encourage children and families to bring in recycled materials that can be re-used or re-purposed for a range of projects within the ELC programs.

As a community, we are committed to empowering the children to believe that they can make a difference to our planet.

Ms Sarah Bethune, Head of Early Learning Centre