The little things make the big things

The drive for community cohesion and setting up children with the best start in life is palpable at Cippenham Nursery School in Slough. The staff are laser-focused on building skills early to ensure success. Nisha Gill, the Headteacher, is certain that young children need to be exposed to climate action a lot earlier than primary education, and their school development plan, governance and curriculum address this too.

“Here, they get to take on new skills, concrete ideas and concepts of understanding and it becomes normal, their everyday life and experience. It instils at such an early age, it becomes part of who they are. When they leave us, they have a good understanding. Taking climate action helps address misconceptions that they might bring into primary school. It sets them up for being writers, scientists, mathematicians – that they can be whatever they want to be. If they’re drawn to it, they’ll seek it out later in life.”

The space to grow

The staff at Cippenham are committed to weaving sustainability and climate action across the whole education experience. They received support from Emma, a Climate Ambassador, who helped them develop their climate action plan and look at it through a holistic lens.

The community that the Cippenham Nursery School has been serving since 1941 includes multi-generational family relationships, with parents who were once pupils here now bringing their own children. The nursery staff therefore hold deep knowledge about the community, and recognise that families often don’t have access to a garden or high-quality green space. Reflecting that, the staff show commitment to ensuring positive interactions with, and in, nature for the children, which they see rippling out to the families and community.

From taking care of Frosty, the rabbit, and Loki, the guinea pig, to learning in the allotment and the forest school, the staff are paying attention to academic skills, but also speech and language skills, physical skills, and connection to nature. Nisha shares that some of the families are not used to the cold and damp weather of the colder months, or may not have appropriate clothing. To address this barrier, the nursery provides children with clothing and wellies. “As we’re introducing the children to it, they introduce it to their families”, she shares. “The children sow seeds for Mother’s Day rather than make a card, and it produces something beautiful with a lasting impact.”

Forest School Leads Kate and Helen share testimonials of children developing new skills outdoors – stronger fine and gross motor skills, muscle strength, being present, making mistakes. But they also note more significant shifts too – children unlearning instant gratification, building stronger relationships, and even talking more. They give an example of selectively mute children beginning to talk when in their forest school sessions, which speaks to the impact of the input during their sessions, and the sense of safety they create.

Playing their part in the wider community

When asked about the role they play in the local community, Nisha and her colleagues share a picture of far-reaching impacts they are striving to create. Coming from a social care background, Nisha is inspired to pour into the families, as well as the children themselves, to support a healthier community. She gives examples of English classes that parents and carers can take at the nursery, the volunteering that is available for families to contribute their green skills to the site and children’s experiences, and even distributing food and sharing tools within the community to help ease the load on families and help their resources go further.

Speaking about advice they have for other education staff looking to embed sustainability and climate action more deeply into their setting, Nisha, Helen and Kate speak passionately about starting before feeling fully ready. They’ve hosted training sessions with other education settings, sharing what they’ve learned along the way.

“Oftentimes, it’s just one person doing it, so we try to keep in touch and have that support with professional development.” They recommend to “find likeminded people in that environment – a teaching assistant who loves gardening, a site manager that is really good at making things. Find the people that are passionate, and draw them in to support you with the many elements of it. They don’t have to deliver the learning with you. Once it starts materialising, you’ll have the confidence!”

If you’d like to start embedding climate action in your nursery, school or college, you can express your interest in support from a Climate Ambassador here.