1st Edition
Creating an Eco-Friendly Early Years Setting A Practical Guide
This book offers a comprehensive guide to becoming a more eco-friendly setting, from small steps that can be taken to reduce waste and improve efficiency to setting up partnerships. It illustrates how sustainable choices can become a natural part of every child’s education and how children, parents and staff can all inspire sustainable behaviour across local communities and at national and international levels.
Covering all aspects of practice including colleague and parental engagement, the environment, routines, resources, and teaching and learning, the book helps readers and practitioners to embed a sustainable approach in day-to-day practice. It draws on recent research, studies and stories of success and failure that can be adapted to fit everyone’s own journey towards a more sustainable world. The chapters address topics such as:
- plastics and their alternatives
- sustainable food
- sustainable resourcing
- transport and trips
- waste management.
Drawing on the experiences of real nurseries and including a wide range of activities and lists of resources, this is an essential read for practitioners, leaders, policymakers and all settings that want to help make sustainable choices a natural part of young children’s lives.
- Parents
- Working with Colleagues
- Pedagogy
- Plastics, and their Alternatives
- Nappies and Wet Wipes
- Play Activities
- Children’s Gardening
- The Natural World and Pets
- Electronic Equipment
- Building Design
- Cleaning, Sanitizing and Disinfecting, Personal Care
- Sustainable Food
- Sustainable Resourcing
- Transport and Trips
- Waste Management
- Legal Framework and Relevant Accreditations
- Advocacy
- Standards, Curricula and Accreditation Specific to Early Years
Summary
Appendices
I. Tops Supplier Grading
II. Tops CSER Policy
III. Tops Sustainable Travel Plan example
IV. Tops Sustainability Check List example
V. GECCO Disposable/Plastic Nappy v Real/Reusable Nappy Poster
VI. Self-accreditation GECCO draft Wheel
VII. Eco festival dates
VIII. Useful websites
IX. Children’s Books
X. Educators’ Books
Index
Biography
Cheryl Hadland is the Founder and Managing Director of Tops Day Nurseries, Aspire Training Team and Hadland Care Group, and the early years sustainability charity, GECCO, UK.
"Cheryl Hadland would like envorinmental action to be a partnership between parents and their childcare providers. We are all responsible for our children's education and the protection of the environment, and what better place to inspire this than at a nursery or with a childminder. the beauty of childcare settings is that they touch many families, so they are fertile ground to sow the ideas that are important for sustainability. ven thought his book is written as a guide for early years settings, it can be used by any family or business...
I like Cheryl's perspective that this is not about being perfect, but about being aware and taking steps and, most imprtantly, educating young children in the process. She shares her research and the reality that "every activity we do has some impact on the environment", and she acknowledges that making the most eco choice can be difficult. The focus is very much on having a go, starting discussions, looking carefully at options and raising awareness." - Saffia Farr, JUNO magazine
