Pennies Green Initiatives

Early in 2020, Pennies decided to make changes to our work, moving towards making environmental work a significant element of the education and care we offer, and central to many of our working practices. Along the way, we have looked for friends to join us on this journey and have won awards for what we have already achieved. We are also aware that there is much more we can do. This page provides an overview of our actions, but it is also very much a work in progress.

Awards for the environment

We realised very soon in our environmental journey that it wasn’t enough to say we were committed, we needed to show this and one clear statement we could make involved reaching the standards recognised by those who reward achievement with environmental awards. Pennies has regularly achieved the nationally recognised Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. All our settings have held this since 2023 (Mark Cross having pioneered this by winning in 2022). Our Kent-based settings have held Wilder Kent Awards since 2021 (when they won Silver) and have been holders of the highest (Gold) standard since 2022. These awards are held annually, each year requiring new entries and new evidence. We continue to be committed to these targets and the work outlined on the rest of this page is central to the way we have achieved them so far.

We continue to believe that working openly with awarding organisations and discussing this work with parents and online will bring us support for what we are doing. We are always happy to discuss this and to hear the opinions of others on this subject.

Win/Win Partnerships

Since 2022, Pennies has been actively looking to find partnerships local to our settings in which we can support some environmentally friendly cause, usually by means of social media support and small donations in return for working with the group in ways that add to the education and childcare we provide. Items as simple as photographs can be valuable to us as we engage children in discussions on the environment.

Some of our most successful links are now well established. In Maidstone we have been visiting the nearby Vinters Valley Nature Reserve for a few years, handing out leaflets we have produced to support them and supporting their various events through our social media. Mark Cross has links, including local farms who have brought animals to meet the children.

We recently formed a link with a local repair café which will be able to take toys from all settings.

Bug Hotels

One easy way for children to engage with nature is to understand that the smallest creatures need safe spaces to feel happy and move about, much as children need safe spaces in our settings. All Pennies gardens have bug accommodation and can easily stage bug hunts. We have also worked in recent years to install bug accommodation in the areas close to our nurseries, for example placing bug hotels in the Crowborough Community acre near Mark Cross. We have a large bug hotel opposite our Hockers Lane setting, supported by a poster explaining this. Children and parents can easily see this when the leaves fall in winter. We are currently working with the landowners to plant wildflowers in the same area, to improve biodiversity but also provide a strong visual reference for children to understand that their community benefits from safe spaces for the smallest creatures.

Vegetable Growing, Plant-Based Foods and Juicing

Initiatives started a few years ago have now grown to become part of a normal day in our settings. All our gardens have vegetable beds, allowing children to see growth and tend the growing areas. All settings have composting facilities, again available for children to help with. Even the youngest can take part, developing fine motor skills as they become involved and gradually understanding the links between compost, growing vegetables and the food they eat. Our food choices have included plant-based options for many years, and the company supports the annual Veganuary campaign. We undertake juicing with the help of children in preschool rooms and much of the activity around growing and consuming plant-based food, including our home-grown samples, is very much part of a normal Pennies’ Day.

On-Going Initiatives

All our settings have eco-committees, set up to meet the requirements of the Eco-Schools Green Flag awards. We are also active in local environmental groups, meaning we have contacts locally and arrange a few one-off events or links to help some of our local friends. We’re also open to hearing suggestions from others active in these areas about ways in which we can work together. An example of local work is linked below in a document we produced for a national initiative called Sustainability Support for Education, which was organised by the Department for Education with a view to sharing good practice and building a national resource base for environmental education.

View our Community Engagement in Early Years: Case Study