Engaging in our Community

At Rompers we are part of Eco Schools which gives the nursery the opportunity to get a Green flag for achieving various green and sustainability activities. Each room works on age appropriate, child led activities relating to the topic that is chosen by the staff and children in the nursery. The children learn how to vote for a topic, how to try and improve the natural environment by implementing green policies by reducing, reusing and recycling what we can. 

The children love nothing more than getting outside and going to the planting and growing area. Here they can play in the mud, learn how to plant seeds, care for the plants that are growing and then harvest what they grow. This helps their mental wellbeing, their knowledge of plants and allows them to explore new tasting experiences. They learn what plants need and how to care for them. Every child gets the opportunity to take part in a nursery planting experience, this allows them to take the plant home and see how it changes over time.

We have forged links with the House of Dun and its head gardener. Each month a group of children take taxis and visit the grounds. They have been shown how to plant daffodil bulbs, they have explored the maze and fairy garden and learned about the trees and flowers that grow in the grounds. They have enjoyed the play park where they have demonstrated their gross motor skills, how to move their bodies and practise their balancing skills. During the visits the children have explored their senses by feeling the sponge like sequoia trees, looked for and smelled the flowers, listened to the birds, collected branches and made a den. 

Leading on from our visits to the House of Dun we have organised visits to the Montrose Visitor Centre. Here the children have been enjoying time on the mud exploring the shoreline. With the help of a wildlife ranger the children have explored the different sea creatures that live under the rocks and seaweed and in the water of a tidal basin. The ranger helps them collect creatures such as small crabs, sea shrimp, sea slaters and mussels. The children then get to hold the creatures and the ranger explains what they are, what they eat and why they live where they do. The children get to dig in the mud exploring the textures and smells of the shoreline. While in the centre the children can use the binoculars to see if they can spot any birds that visit the basin. They can learn about the different birds that visit and the different sounds that each bird make. 

All our eco activities improve their mental wellbeing, knowledge of the natural world, and provide sensory experiences for all the children that take part.