Our story

The lovely garden, and visits to a friend’s allotment, inspired her to focus on nature and the outdoors. When she saw how much the children benefited from the freedoms and fascinations of learning outside through nature, one of the next things she did was acquire an allotment of her own and develop what she called a ‘nature plot’.

Developing from this, she became increasingly concerned about the sheer quantity of single-use plastics and other disposables that were being used in nurseries – including ours. This led to a wider concern about the lack of attention to sustainability in nurseries, in terms of the environment, resources, and most importantly for us, in the children’s education.

With the environment in crisis, what messages were we sending to our children? What were we really teaching them about the world they live in, and their role in looking after it?

We decided that we needed to transform our Young Friends Kindergarten into a truly sustainable early years nursery environment.

It’s taken a few years, and lots of experimentation, but now we’ve created a nursery experience for children focussed on sustainability, incredibly high-quality interactions and a carefully constructed blended teaching approach influenced by respected theories (both national and international).

It’s all based on the conviction that every child has the potential to grow into an adult committed to saving our planet.

We aim to help every child to understand that they have a role to play while they are growing up, and give them the confidence and motivation to make a real difference.