Our connection with nature brings responsibility with it.

Sustainability isn't something we save for a special activity or particular week of the year. It is woven into everyday life at Norman Park Kindy.

Children participate in caring for gardens, reducing waste, reusing materials, noticing living things and considering how our choices affect the environment.

Our litter-free lunchbox approach is one practical example of children and families contributing together to reducing waste.

Through repeated everyday experiences, children begin to understand that caring for the environment isn't simply something people talk about.

It is something we do.

Connection to Country

We acknowledge the Jagera people as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we learn and play and recognise their continuing connection to Country.

Our relationship with Country is something we continue to learn about alongside children.

Through spending time outdoors, noticing seasonal and environmental changes, caring for living things, engaging with Aboriginal perspectives and developing meaningful relationships with First Nations people within our community, we seek to support children's respect for Country and an understanding that this land holds stories, knowledge and connections extending far beyond our own time here.

This is an ongoing journey of listening, learning and relationship.

Why this matters

Regular experiences in nature provide much more than physical activity.

Children encounter opportunities for:

• curiosity and scientific thinking;

• creativity and imagination;

• physical development and coordination;

• problem-solving and decision-making;

• confidence and resilience;

• appropriate risk assessment;

• independence;

• collaboration and communication;

• environmental responsibility; and

• connection with place and community.

Perhaps most importantly, children are given time to develop a relationship with the natural world.

We believe children are more likely to care for places they have had the opportunity to know, enjoy and love.

Through children's eyes

As we continue developing this website, this is one of the places where we will share children's own observations, questions and theories about nature.

Not adult interpretations of what children might think.

Their actual words.

Because when we want to understand what our environment means to children, their voices should be part of the story.

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