Teaching sustainability and environmental awareness
The NCC Early Learners Centres incorporate a number of initiatives designed to enhances children’s understanding of sustainability, the environment, gardening, farming and food including bush tucker, composting and recycling.
Our intention is to ensure that our students are more aware of the natural world, what they can do to care for it and be responsible with their own waste. We also believe it’s important that children know where their food comes from and through the process of growing it, choose healthier natural food options.
At NCC Early Learners, children enjoy a hands-on approach to nutrition as they get their hands dirty learning how to grow delicious fruit and vegetables and experience eating a variety of fresh seasonal produce. The centre aims to create a sustainable and eco-friendly environment by introducing a range of child-focused gardening.
As the Children are encouraged to enjoy spending time outdoors and looking after the natural environment, they learn plant names, successfully harvest edible plants, and plan and decorate the vegetable garden area – including finding ingenious ways to keep bugs and birds from eating the veggies!
Gardens can be used to integrate science, mathematics, language, arts, history, environmental studies, nutrition and health into fun learning activities for children, as well as doubling as playgrounds with edible treats to promote healthy eating habits.
For younger children, an experience with growing and eating their own food can lead to a lifetime of better nutrition, and more interest in eating fresh produce.
children experience the joys of gardening through our vegetable and herb gardens and fruit orchards. We also have a composting system for food scraps and a worm farm as well as recycling of containers, cardboard and bottles.
Our recycling programs teach the environmental benefits of recycling and inspires children and communities to conserve and repurpose for the benefit of generations to come driving behavioural change and inspiring tomorrow’s great minds. Combining seemingly small actions to creating habits our sustainability action plans develop new and better ways.