Throughout the year, Guardian Centres participate in a variety of community and country wide events. One event that the children always look forward to is Clean Up Australia Day, which took place on Sunday March 1 this year.
To celebrate the event, and further explore their sustainability efforts, several of our Centres took to their local parklands, communities and gardens to clean up rubbish sadly left behind.
Here, five Guardian Centres share how they explored and participated in Clean Up Australia Day 2020.
Guardian Altona North – Fresie, Lead Educator
“To celebrate and bring awareness of Clean Up Australia Day, the kinder children went around the Centre and cleaned up our learning spaces. It was such a wonderful and engaging experience that enabled the children to further learn about, and practice respect for their environment. We also had the opportunity to create a sense of belonging in our community and get involved in a wonderful cause. The simple concept of the event ignited an enthusiasm and desire among the children to get involved and make a difference.”
Guardian Bruce – Yanhao, Early Childhood Teacher
“The preschool children at Guardian Bruce participated in Clean Up Australia Day. We ventured out and around the Centre collecting rubbish and looking for items to recycle. Some of the children were even interviewed by WIN News, who asked what we were doing, why we were doing it, and what Clean Up Australia Day means to the children.”
Guardian St Clair – Lisa, Centre Manager
“In support of Clean Up Australia Day, each of our rooms at St Clair went out and about into our community to do our part and clean up the local parklands. The children did such a good job that they rewarded themselves with a bit of duck watching on the way back.”
Guardian Kent Street – Carmen, Early Childhood Teacher
“It was a big morning for preschoolers, who walked to Wynyard Park to meet some of their friends from Guardian Margaret Street. Once we arrived at the park, we sat down together and got ready for our special event, putting on gloves ahead of our rubbish hunt. Our Educators reminded the children that they were the observers, whose role was to search for rubbish, while the Educators were responsible for collecting it.
While on the hunt, the children identified and discussed the two categories the rubbish fell into, recyclable objects for the yellow bag and non-recycled objects for the white bag. We observed a lot of initiative and enthusiasm throughout the experience and the children did an amazing job in cleaning up our local park.”
Guardian Acacia Gardens – Amanda, Centre Manager
“Last week our Preschool children from Acacia Gardens participated in Clean Up Australia Day. It was our first excursion for the year and a very important one, as the children explored their local neighbourhood and learnt just how vital it is to look after our environment.”
