Bright Horizons Fair Oak Nursery in Eastleigh has been awarded the Eco-School’s Green Flag Award for the second year in a row.

The team at the Hampshire nursery used the Eco-Schools seven-step framework to create new ways to empower children to understand and protect the world around them.

Clare Ashton, nursery manager at Fair Oak, said: “The children are very young, but they love learning about all the ways to recycle at home and in the nursery. I feel passionately that if the team continues to do our part to educate future generations, then we can make the world a better place.”

She added: “Our parents particularly love that the children grow their own vegetables in our patches which the amazing chef cooks into fresh and healthy meals for them.”

Other activities have included litter picking in the local area and participating in walk and cycle to nursery schemes, as well as learning about the importance of turning the lights off when leaving a room and how toys get recycled and reused.

Recently, the children made a life-sized igloo out of used milk cartons collected throughout the week, then dismantled it and turned the cartons into bird feeders, lunch boxes, and works of art.

Fair Oak joins more than 60 Bright Horizons nurseries taking part in the Eco-Schools programme.