Aussie Childcare Network Forum

Posted: **Mon Feb 01, 2016 5:44 pm**

Hi All,

So ive very newly been asked by my director to be the centres Sustainability officer (not because of my extensive knowledge on environmental practices, because that is no existent). After much valuable and non valuable reading, Im at a stand still on how to even begin this journey of improving my centres sustainability. I did however start with an audit on my centre as this is the first task they assigned me. Which in itself was very easy because it was a lot of Yes/No/Sometimes questions. Ive finished that and know which areas need to improve, but just dont know how. Im currently trying to put out a staff memo and questionairre to all of my fellow educators to find out where they stand on being sustainable so i can utilise them and so they dont continue to be lazy in this IMPORTANT area. Do you have any reflective questions to suggest putting onto this questionnaire or even any suggestions to add to my whole journey? All input is strongly valued and appreciated.
Also linking this area to our community! how?! Thank you all

Posted: **Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:46 pm**

Starting with an audit is a great idea! It's helpful to determine what your currently doing at your centre in regards to sustainability practices... Rather than giving the educators a questionnaire to fill in, if you have a whiteboard in the staff room, its probably best to use this. With questionnaires you have to create them, give them to the staff and then wait to receive them back and some educators may not even give you any feedback. So, use the whiteboard for your added advantage and hopefully you'll get a more positive response. To start off with maybe pick 2 sustainable practices that you want to implement and add it to the whiteboard e.g. Start a Recycling Program and Start A Worm Farm then maybe add some strategies that the educators an do to implement it within their rooms... Under these you can have a comment section for educators to comment on... You could also do something like "Sustainability - Share Your Ideas" and have educators share their ideas as well... Also the benefit of doing on a white board is that once one educator contributes then others will hopefully join in as well!

This will also help:

Sustainability Practices In Childcare

Hope this gives you some ideas,

,
Lorina

Posted: **Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:38 pm**

Hi Ebony - it could be worth checking out The Tradie Lady. The two women who run this business are also early childhood educators and specialise in creating sustainable play spaces and environments within childcare centres. They are super approachable, so it could be worth having a chat with them about what they can do for your centre. Their website is www.thetradieladysd.com.au or you can find them on Facebook.

All the best,

Sarah

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