At BestStart Kamo Central, sustainability isn’t just a goal — it’s part of our daily life. From waste reduction to hands-on learning, our tamariki and kaiako have embraced eco-friendly practices, earning us official Enviroschool status.
Throughout this year here at BestStart Kamo Central, we have been focusing on sustainability. This was a natural progression for us, as it was the next step after all the mahi that went into winning our Innovation Award on kaitiakitanga.
We have introduced a range of sustainable practices into our centre, such as expanding our mara kai, replacing paper towels with cloth hand towels, adding another compost bin, introducing new nappy bins that no longer use plastic bags, and improving our waste bin systems.
Reducing our centre waste has been a particular goal for us. We now have four separate colour-coded, labelled bins set up in our over-twos classroom: one each for waste, paper, soft plastics, and recycling. The tamariki have played a huge part in this and have loved learning what goes into each bin, and why it is important to reduce waste to care for our environment.
They have developed a strong sense of responsibility and can often be heard reminding each other what waste goes into which bin, or asking the kaiako to check if they are correct.
When it comes to food waste, the tamariki have been learning what can be fed to our chickens, our worms, or added to the compost bins. They have been so involved in these processes that they have now become part of our daily rituals, happily taking turns with the new daily jobs.
All of this amazing mahi from the tamariki and kaiako has now been recognised. One of our core goals was to become an Enviroschool, and last term this dream came true — we are now officially enrolled as an Enviroschool.