Childbase Partnership settings awarded Green Flag eco status

In the same week, the employee-owned chain has been rated a ‘World Class workplace’ by engagement specialists, Best Companies. 

There are currently 78 nurseries in the UK who have achieved their Bronze and Silver Award and gone on to become Green Flag-certified by Eco-Schools.

Childbase’s nurseries are powered by renewable wind and solar power, and children are involved in a variety of eco-projects. Gardens contain bug hotels and bird feeders, to encourage biodiversity,  and children plant and tend fruit, vegetables and herbs which are harvested for meals and learning activities.  Food scraps from snack breaks are used in nursery composters, and materials from craft projects are reused so that just over 1 per cent of waste ends up in landfill.

To attain Green Flag accreditation, nurseries must engage in a seven-step programme led by an eco-committee of children and staff.

Rigorous vetting of the projects, which focus on 10 topics including Global Citizenship, Energy, Marine and waste, is then carried out by an independent inspector.

Mark Bird, Childbase Partnership health safety and environment director, who was involved in the development of the UK Early Years pathway for the international Eco-Schools programme, said, ‘This has been a mammoth five–year project for Childbase Partnership but it is really only a start. Currently we have 14 nurseries with two consecutive Green Flag awards and we aim to increase that to firmly cement Childbase Partnership as the centre for early years environmental education.’