Eco Schools Green Flag Award 2022 - Happy Days Nursery & Preschool - Cheswick Village

Recipient: Happy Days Nursery & Preschool - Cheswick Village

Date: Sunday 24 Jul 2022

Here's what Eco Schools had to say about our hard work for the last year in promoting a Eco-Friendly Nursery Environment!

"We like your inclusive approach to selecting the Eco-Committee members. You spoke to the children at group time and discussed the importance of looking after their world, they then had the option to to join the committee. It is wonderful to hear that the Eco-Schools project has also helped the children to develop their confidence and skills in critical thinking, active citizenship and how to work in a team! It is clear that your approach to the Eco-Committee demonstrates a proactive, inclusive and educational approach to the programme. It is impressive to see! We also like how your Eco-Committee communicates their work both internally and externally through a variety of methods. For example, you use class discussions in group time, word of mouth, posters, the school newsletter, photographs, social media and school assemblies. This approach shows how valued and embedded the ideas underpinning the Eco-Schools programme are in your school! It was really great to read how your Environmental Review provided the basis for the projects in your Action Plan and helped you identify the areas you need to focus on. It is great to hear that the review made you more aware of what you needed to do more of to support our world and your school. Your inclusive and educational approach to the process demonstrates a reflective and considered approach to your Eco-Schools work - this is a great skill that we can all learn from! You’ve clearly taken great efforts to connect your healthy living, marine and transport projects happening across the school and embedding work into curriculum and everyday school life in a really impactful way. This is really inspiring and clever. Your Action Planning was great! The actions that you planned out were SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound). This is important as it helps to achieve progress and empower your Eco-Committee. It was also great to see accountability marked in your Action Plans and that you identify a wide range of really creative actions. We love your Eco-Code which is punchy and has tangible and inclusive calls to action that your whole school can get behind! Your curriculum links were really clear and creative! For example, we like that you use active learning strategies and a cross curricular approach that has helped your children to make connections and deepen their understanding. For example, as part of your marine focus, the children created a tuff tray with arctic animals in and water, and then used old milk bottles and other plastics to represent the waste in the water. We love that the children then rescued the sea animals and removed the plastic to create bird feeders and put them into the garden! This kind of creative pedagogical work hopefully helps the children to create lovely memories and approach these important topics in fresh and relevant ways, and is a great way to encourage them to take pride and ownership of their local environment. You've also clearly looked both internally and externally and engaged with a wide range of different stakeholders, for instance, you worked with The Wildlife Trust on their 30 days wild programme and with Choose to Refuse on their Plastic Free February campaign. It is also great to hear you took part in the National clean air day and also Cycle or Ride Day! We love hearing that your children are working with local residents/parents who share a wider interest in becoming more eco-friendly and that you have arranged community visits including gardening workshops and upcycling workshops! This kind of work is an outstanding example of the collaborative approach we will all need to adopt to help protect and improve our environment - your application made us feel really positive for the future! Your achievements this year have been lovely to hear about. It is wonderful to see that your children are keen to protect the environment, and this is in large part due to the actions and attitudes of your staff in regards to setting an example in raising the importance of taking care of our planet. It is so impressive to hear that you have had such success encouraging the children to be more litter aware and ensuring they are recycling. It is lovely to hear that the children have been talking about reducing your plastic use to ‘save the fish', and you should be rightly proud of their contribution to your recycling and litter pick programmes All of this work shows how embedded the values of the Eco-Schools project are in your school! Congratulations to everyone for the great work you have managed to do. You should all be very proud of your amazing work and the great application you have submitted. You've really earned your Green Flag Award!