Twenty Northern Beaches and Mosman Early Childhood Educators joined us at the Eco House and Garden on Friday 28th March 2025 for our 3rd Waste & Sustainability in Early Childhood Education Centres professional development days. We felt so blessed to have them with us and that the weather cooperated so that we could share the delights of the Eco Garden with them. Our professional & passionate staff educated participants on how to create and embed new sustainability practices into their centres, as well as developing their confidence in delivering the sustainability component of the Early years Framework, supported by our Resource Hive. Resource Hive Archive – Kimbriki
It was so inspiring to hear Marnie Green of Terrey Hills Community Kindy share the journey that they have been on to embed sustainable operations during our case study session. This was complemented with a presentation by Janelle Sly and Heidi Patrick from Elanora Heights Community Preschool, who attended our first Early Childhood Educators PD Day last year. They have gone from strength to strength in their sustainable offerings at their “Pack Away” centre. We will all come up against challenges but we believe the Elanora Heights Community Preschool team have shown how solutions can be found that fit every situation and set-up.
Many thanks to Eric Sturman from the WaterUps team for joining us for the session on waterwise gardening. WaterUps have a wealth of knowledge to share and many different solutions to all kinds of settings with Rethink, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in mind. More details about offerings to Early Learning Centres can be found here: https://www.waterups.com.au/wicking-beds-for-schools-and-early-learning-centres/.
Nicole Lewis from B&B Highway engaged the participants in a hands-on creative activity that connected them with their inner child and everyone loved. She shared the importance of the birds, bees, insects, decomposers for our little people to learn about and feel comfortable being around. More details about the programs she and the team offer as well as assistance with grants can be found here: School Info – PlantingSeeds
All participants felt that their knowledge of waste and sustainability in their centres increased extensively or considerably as a result of this workshop, providing them with the confidence to educate other staff members and implement these new sustainable practices into their daily operations.
Highlights included:
- Interactive workshop sessions to get hands on experience
- Moving around between a variety of activities to get a taster of methods that can be introduced to the centre to move towards sustainable daily practices
- The benefits to young minds of sensory activities connecting them in with nature
- Hearing how other centres have integrated their learnings from the Eco House & Garden team as well as successes and challenges.+
Planned actions to implement as a result of the PD Day:
- Adding container recycling to the centre
- Improving or setting up compost and worm farms with this new knowledge
- Educating other centre educators about how to integrate compost and worm farms into daily experiences for children
- Using the resources provided in the Kimbriki Resource Hive to integrate into programs
- Introducing more edible and sensory plants to the centre
- Exploring grant opportunities to support new sustainability initiatives at centres
- Creating a ReUse and Recycling Station and increasing community and family involvement in the 4 Rs at the centre
We are certainly looking forward to continuing our connections with the participants and their centres. We appreciated the marvellous feedback and loved the idea of having half day (3 hour) speciality intensive sessions to provide Early Childhood Educators with in-depth skills to further enhance their confidence in delivery sustainability initiatives at their centres. Watch this space for more details.
