At Young Friends Tribe, we’ve developed a unique approach to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework set by the UK government’s Department for Education.
When you join the Tribe, we’ll take you step-by-step through the five key areas we’ve defined, that address every aspect of building and transforming your early years setting into a truly sustainable business which nurtures the children, your staff and your environment.
At Young Friends Tribe, we’ve developed a unique approach to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework set by the UK government’s Department for
Changing culture is key to success, but as we’ve learned, it can also be one of the toughest steps. We’ll show you how to break down barriers to success and embed a sustainability ethos in your existing staff team – changing their mindset whilst supporting their and the children’s wellbeing.
We’ll also share what we’ve learned about recruiting, training and supporting the right people to build your sustainable staff team.
We’ll show you ways to embed health, wellbeing and sustainability curriculum so that children learn and grow in confidence with everything they do.
True sustainability happens when the three pillars (social, economic and environmental) are integrated. We’ve developed a curriculum founded on all three – whilst also following the EYFS framework set out by the DofE. We will show you how to develop a sustainable curriculum for your setting.
This approach to an early years curriculum ensures that every child has an opportunity to thrive and to develop a lifelong curiosity and love of learning. We’ll deliver the tools you need to gradually adapt or totally transform your curriculum in whatever way is appropriate to your setting.
We’ll show you the ways that integrating learning about their place in the world (in the nursery setting, through trips out and in nature) helps to promote the children’s personal growth and development, including risk benefit (learning about their own bodies and how to develop and stretch their capabilities in a safe way).
All this fits within and adheres to the EYFS curriculum, and we’ll guide you through ways we’ve successfully done it, and give you ideas for ways in which you can work towards it in your particular context.
Your journey towards a more sustainable one isn’t one your nursery setting can take in isolation. As well as training your staff, you’ll want to build strong parent partnerships, so they are fully on board with what you’re aiming to achieve.
Building a nursery business with true sustainability at its heart also means linking with your local community, getting the children involved and showing them, their place in it. We’ll show you how.
Transforming your Early Years business takes time, and we’ll share with you the steps we’ve taken –what’s been successful (and what was less so!). We’ll look at ways to save energy, money and resources, and give you ideas about how to re-use, upcycle and recycle as much as possible.
Together, we’ll look at your systems and processes; defining, communicating and implementing your policies and risk assessments; budget management, and how to adopt genuine, authentic sustainability across your business. We will address how we try our best to avoid the unavoidable greenwash and give you tips on how to approach branding so that everyone knows what you’re doing.
We’ll show you how to adapt your early years provision – whether you’re in an urban, suburban or rural setting – to have nature at its heart.
Whatever your setting, it is possible to make changes, whether on a small or large scale, that take you and the children step-by-step towards sustainability.
From growing food, to composting and recycling, from children learning about their natural world and animals in it to discovering their place in their community through trips and activities, we’ll share our experiences with you.
We’ll show you how to adapt a ‘seed-to-plate’ approach to food to an urban setting and share ways to engage children with the natural world. What you can do will depend on your specific context, but once we’ve shared our experiences of learning to compost, recycle and bring the outside in, you might find you can do more than you think!
Learn about how to transform your nursery setting by introducing biodiversity inside and out. We’ll deliver practical tutorials covering things like how to make and manage a wormery, collect rainwater, create a small pond, and make bird feeders and bug hotels with the children.
We’ll also share how we tackled phasing out plastics, single-use items and pre-determined toys; as well as how to educate parents and children about learning through play.
The Young Friends Tribe is building momentum, and you can join us.
We’re here to guide your nursery or kindergarten as you take steps on your journey towards becoming a more sustainable early years setting. We’ll share our experience, and offer you advice and training born from our experience – helping you step-by-step, however big or small the changes that you want to make.
Plus: get regular updates, news and top-tips about becoming a sustainable early years setting.
Young Friends Tribe
89 Holland Road
Hove
East Sussex
BN3 1JP
t: 01273 735 100
e: enquiries@youngfriendstribe.co.uk
