Ampfield nursery achieves International Green Flag Award

Bright Horizons Ampfield Day Nursery and Preschool achieved the award as a result of the ongoing involvement of the nursery in the Eco-Schools Programme.

The nursery achieved the award as a result of its involvement in the Eco-Schools Programme (Image: Bright Horizons Ampfield Day Nursery and Preschool)This initiative is designed with seven steps that nurseries and schools follow to help empower young people to make changes to protect the environment and understand the impact of climate change. Those involved in the programme can achieve the Green Flag Award as recognition and acknowledgement of the ecological achievements made by young people.

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Elizabeth, nursery manager at Bright Horizons Ampfield Day Nursery and Preschool, said: “The children have shown excellent commitment to both the programme and the eco-cause, it’s great to see them all be so eager and enthusiastic to learn about the environment. Our enriching Bright Beginnings curriculum enabled us to incorporate learning about global issues and such key Early Years topics such as Understanding the World and Expressive Arts & Design, which has helped to enhance the children’s creativity.

“At our autumn open day, we will also be showcasing our woodland site, which all the children across the nursery get to explore and where our older children complete their Nature Nursery sessions. This encourages them to build their skills over 6 weeks by going on bug hunts, building their own shelters, learning how to use tools for woodwork and climbing trees. We feel so lucky to have a great green space that we’ll be able to show new families!”

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The nursery has been working hard to achieve the Eco-Schools Green Flag status. This started with forming an eco-committee of parents, children, and staff where they chose to focus their eco-activities around their school grounds, biodiversity, and reducing waste.

Some of their activities included the pre-school children who have been working on designing and developing a community garden for families to enjoy, building bug hotels, bird feeders and planting butterfly friendly flowers to encourage more wildlife into their garden.

The nursery has also been the first in the region to introduce eco-friendly nappies to children and families at the nursery. Over the past year staff have organised a toy and a clothing swap for children to bring in toys and clothes to the nursery and encouraging them to swap instead of continuing to purchase to help repurposed clothes that the children have outgrown.