Eco School
Ballerup Nursery is a green flag award nursery.
Eco-Schools is an international initiative designed to encourage whole-school action for the environment. It is an environmental management tool, learning resource and recognised award scheme. By participating in the eco schools programme we are encouraging our children to be involved in key issues such as global citizenship, environmental awareness, sustainability and a low carbon future. It encourages us all to be wholly involved in reducing the carbon footprint of our school, home and community.
As part of our Eco agenda we are working to develop our children’s knowledge on the following eco related topics: recycling, rag bag scheme etc
Our Allotment
As it is centred on the act of growing your own produce, allotment gardening has many health and wellbeing benefits for both children and adults.
Children will often choose an unhealthy snack over a healthier treat such as an apple or some carrot sticks. However, when they have grown the produce themselves they are much more likely to pick the healthier treat. They feel they have achieved something, and they want to celebrate that fact.
When a child tries growing their own food from scratch, it’s much more enticing than a shop-bought snack!
Watch the Video of our Allotment here
It’s not just the edible produce of a children’s allotment which is beneficial…
Children’s allotment gardening is also a great way to encourage more physical activity in schools. In addition to improving fine motor skills, it’s also a more major physical exercise.
Introduce more activity into a child’s life without them even realising…
…they’ll stay active and engaged…
…all whilst getting grubby and enjoying the benefits of sensory play!
By engaging in just 30 minutes of gardening you can burn up to 150 calories! Now, little ones don’t need to focus on burning calories, however this does give an indication of the cardiovascular benefits it offers. Children need at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day, therefore making allotment gardening perfect for schools.
School Allotment Gardening and Children’s Mental Health
Allotment gardening is also an exercise in patience, responsibility and commitment. You could say that it’s as good for the mind as it is for the body!
- Self esteem: As children see their efforts come to life, the sense of achievement improves their self esteem. You’d be surprised how satisfying it can be to succeed at something traditionally reserved for grownups!
- Relaxation: A screen-centric world doesn’t offer much time to work on a highly sensory activity in the fresh air. The gift of gardening is, for schools, a perfect opportunity to leave the stresses of the classroom and improve everyone’s mood.
- Cognitive function: The regularity of allotment gardening means children can hone their mental agility in alternative ways to those normally offered in schools. This can have a positive effect on memory and focus.
- A chance to talk: It is well reported that ‘heavy’ or ‘difficult’ conversations are easier when you are occupied or not sitting face-to-face. As such, an activity such as gardening is perfect for talking through any worries a child might have; it’s a low pressure situation that isn’t too mentally taxing.
Loving the Living World
On top of all of the health and wellbeing benefits of children’s allotment gardening, it’s also a great way to encourage young people to connect with their environment. Having an allotment provides a ‘green’ haven, even in the most urban of areas.
By creating a children’s allotment in schools with limited green space, you also provide gardening areas in which wildlife can thrive. This does wonders for the local environment!
Wildlife is vital; flying insects such as bees help to pollinate plants, contributing to the growth of many fruits and vegetables. That’s why supporting this life cycle is vital to the continuation of agriculture across the entire world.
So why not do your bit? Help to encourage wildlife to flourish by bringing allotment gardening to schools; children will see the benefits for decades to come!
Recycling
Ballerup nursery promotes recycling on a daily basis through a variety of Eco related topics. We encourage our children and staff to recycle all paper good into the blue recycling bins.
Rag bag
Ballerup is participating in the Rag Bag scheme where staff and parents are working hard to collect all unwanted goods which are then collected by a Rag Bag representative. The nursery collects lots of unwanted goods such as clothes, material, shoes, bedding, books and soft toys these are then weighed and the nursery receives a cheque with all moneys going to new nursery resources. The Rag Bag representative also awards the nursery with a certificate of their achievement which is displayed on the parent’s notice board for all parents to see.
Sharing Shelf
We have our Sharing Shelf that promotes a sense of kindness and sharing in our nursery community. We have clothes, baby toys, gift sets, food stuff, toiletries and many more items that we can use. The idea is to take something and if and when you are able to place an item.
Batteries
We are recycling used batteries in the nursery and we encourage our service users to bring in any old batteries and put them in the bin provided.
Also we will soon be participating in several new programmes such as litter picking and we will be recycling other items such as mobile phones.
We recycle as much materials as possible and all our service users are involved in helping us to maintain an excellent environmental friendly approach.
