KU Newport - Take 3 For The Sea

KU Newport Preschool has celebrated the 125^th anniversary of KU Children’s Services (KU). The preschool recognised this special milestone by collecting 125 pieces of rubbish from the beach.

“For our 125 years celebration, KU Newport opted to link it with our passion for the environment and collect 125 pieces of rubbish from the local beaches as part of the ‘Take 3 For The Sea’ initiative. As KU Newport is in a beachside suburb, this resonated beautifully with the community culture and appreciation of our beaches. We gave each child a paper bag (which we were able to recycle) and encouraged them to design their own ‘art of the sea’ to reflect the notion of ‘Take 3’. The children and their families were then encouraged to collect rubbish from the local beaches. As the numbers of collected rubbish increased, so did the community spirit. We even had a noticeboard out the front of the preschool for the final push which prompted a few discussions and words of support from the community as they passed the preschool”, said KU Newport Preschool Director, Ben White.

The theme of the 125 years celebration was ‘making a difference through 125 years of social impact and early education’.

“With the rubbish, we made a mural that spells out the words ‘125 KU’. It is a bold statement that now hangs on the wall of the preschool to remind us of our commitment to care for the environment and in particular our local beaches. The children also learnt about their responsibility to look after nature and how their behaviour impacts on the greater community and environment. We also had a huge focus on the fact that plastic can take hundreds of years to break down, so we should be responsible in how we reuse and recycle waste”, said Ben.

“As a long-standing community-based preschool, we loved the idea of celebrating 125 years of early childhood education and the fact that for many families they have grown up in and around the preschool and now other generations of the same family are coming through.”