Corporate
Social
Responsibility
We are passionate about supporting the environment and our local communities.
Our Commitment
We are passionate about enabling our settings to be sustainable and socially responsible; along with fostering our children’s understanding, curiosity, and appreciation of their natural world, developing their awareness of the importance of environmental issues and sustainability.
We are committed to supporting a variety of national and local charities throughout the year, as well as holding fund raising events for our nominated charity of the year.
Childrens Hospice
South West
Happy Days Nurseries and Pre-Schools are pleased to announce sponsoring the yellow paint station for the Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW) Rainbow Run on 15th June 2024.
This year, Team Rainbow’s fundraising target is £50,000, which could help to provide vital 24-hour care for children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families in 2024. Rainbow Run is open to anyone over 5 years old. You can run, skip, walk or jog with family, friends or work colleagues. However you choose to take part, you will be showered in powder paint at 8 different coloured stations and will be making a difference every step of the way.
At Children’s Hospice South West they are absolutely committed to making the most of short and precious lives. The care offered is not simply about medical and nursing care for sick but about enriching the lives of children and their families.
For more information on Children’s Hospice South West visit: chsw.org.uk
Eco-Schools Green Flag Award
Eco Schools is a global programme engaging millions of children across 67 different countries making it the largest environmental schools programme in the world.
Every year all of our settings work towards their Eco-Schools Green Flag accreditation, following the seven-step framework, enabling children to engage in a hands-on practical programme that empowers them to drive change and improve their environmental awareness.
Whilst participating in the Eco School Programme children will develop their understanding of important environmental issues. They will develop skills and knowledge to enable them to play an active role in protecting the environment now and throughout their lifetimes, which will have a positive impact on the planet.
Woodland Trust Green Schools Award
All Happy Days Nurseries are registered with the Woodland Trust Green Tree School Award which encourages inspiring outdoor learning that furthers children’s knowledge and understanding of trees, woodlands and wildlife.
The Woodlands Trust has three key aims:
- To protect ancient woodland which is rare, unique and irreplaceable
- To restore damaged ancient woodland to enable wildlife to thrive again
- Plant native trees and woodlands to combat climate change and create resilient landscapes for people and animals
When participating in the environmental projects within the Green Tree School Award programme children will learn about the environment, how it impacts wildlife and what they can do to have a long term positive impact on the planet.
Carbon Offsetting
We work in partnership with 1st Waste to minimise our contributions to landfill and to calculate the carbon created from our generated waste and recycling, alongside our offsetting activities such as tree planting and wind turbine energy projects.
Between March 2023 and March 2024, we will aim to reduce our emissions by 200.46 tonnes by balancing our greenhouse gas emissions associated with our waste services through changes to our internal practices and carbon offsetting.
Through this scheme, we are already seeing a remarkable difference; we were able to reduce landfill to 0.086 tonnes out of 10.230 tonnes in April alone!
To find out more, click here: https://www.1stwaste.co.uk/about-1stwaste-management.php
Our Buildings
The inclusion of Bee Bricks can be found in some of our new nursery buildings.
A Bee Brick is designed to give nature a home within new developments. Used in place of a standard house brick or block, it creates nesting space for solitary bees within the framework of the building.
BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology)
BREEAM is s non-mandatory certification required by some local planning authorities for certain types of developments.
A BREEAM assessment uses recognised measures of performance, which are set against established benchmarks, to evaluate a building’s specification, design construction and use. The measures used represent a broad range of categories and criteria from energy to ecology. Each category focuses on the most influential factors, including reduced carbon emissions, low impact design, adaptation to climate change, ecological value and biodiversity protection.
Happy Days has achieved 2 BREEAM certified settings, Poole and Yate.
Outdoor Environments
Children are a vital part of the practising of sustainability, Happy Days takes several steps to promote awareness and create lifelong habits in the design and delivery of our new nurseries by:
- Incorporating trees, planting and wildlife habitats
- Developing an outdoor area that helps young children participate in gardening in order to promote sustainable food consumption
Sustainable Transport Measures
As part of our long term management strategy for sustainable travel to and from our nurseries, Happy Days develop travel plans to address environmental concerns including:
- Promoting car sharing
- Encourage the use of alternative modes of transport to the private car
- Share sustainable travel information with our parents and colleagues including local public transport links
- Installation of bike racks in our newer nurseries to encourage the use of cycling
Food Waste Management
To encourage children and colleagues to recycle food waste, food waste bins are provided in all rooms across the nursery.
New Nursery Fit Out Suppliers
Happy Days works with suppliers committed to environmental sustainability, suppliers that strive to purchase services and goods in a responsible manner.