NMB Meets Nick Corlett
Nick Corlett
Today we’re speaking to Nick Corlett, Sustainability Manager at London Early Years Foundation group of nurseries (LEYF). I must confess a tiny conflict of interest - this is where my children went to nursery, so your interviewer is certainly biased.
Hi Nick, if you could introduce yourself and tell me a little about what you’re up to at LEYF?
I’m Nick Corlett, Sustainability Manager at the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), A charitable social enterprise of 41 nurseries across 12 boroughs of London.
We are working towards net zero by 2030 as an organisation, being led by our sustainability strategy that we created in 2021. We’ve had some amazing results so far and looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish as we grow.
We’ve worked with a few nurseries and whilst issues of sustainability seem to be important to them, LEYF seem to be doing it very purposefully, can you tell us how the Green LEYF work came about and what it means to you?
We launched the concept of Green LEYF, in 2018 but it really became important to us during Covid when we heard so many negative conversations, yet we were working with our youngest citizens whose future is in our hands. This sparked meaningful conversations with staff across the organisation about how the decisions we make in SDGs can impact on the future. It also aligned with two of our core values: Brave and Nurturing. This marked the beginning of our journey to develop a qualification focused on sustainability in the early years and an organisation-wide Sustainability Strategy where sustainability weaves through everything we do, Governance, Leadership Operations and Pedagogy.
Watching Green LEYF come to life and become a core part of our nurseries has been an incredible experience. It fills me with pride to contribute to educating both the current and future generations on how we can work together to care for our planet.
What was the original idea for the Green LEYF work and how has it developed since then?
The original vision for Green LEYF was to create a more sustainable organisation while empowering our teachers with the knowledge and tools to support curious and inquisitive children and deliver meaningful, sustainability-focused learning experiences. Since its inception, Green LEYF has grown dramatically guided by an organisational strategy with 42 eco-champions across our nurseries driving sustainable practices, a growing library of books and articles on the topic, consistent annual reductions in carbon footprints across all sites and several awards of which we are incredibly proud.
One of the Green LEYF initiatives in action
How do you tackle these huge issues of sustainability and climate change with very young people, particularly with regard to their mental health, how do we tell young people that the planet is in a terrible state without scaring them?
Introducing sustainability and climate change to very young children is about sparking curiosity and fostering empowerment, not fear. We refer to our children as 'change agents,' emphasising positivity and action over alarm. Our LEYF teachers lead by example, supporting one another and role modelling sustainable practices for the children. We also wrote a book to help get them started.
50 Fantastic Ideas for Sustainability : O'Sullivan, June, Corlett, Nick: Amazon.co.uk: Books
We talk about the three pillars of sustainability as well as the SDGs so staff know that they are working in a social enterprise and we partner with other social enterprises for procurement and projects. Our social pillar aligns to our LEYF Pedagogy and multi-generational arm like community events etc and then environment where we focus on biodiversity.
By presenting sustainability as a shared journey and focusing on practical, enjoyable steps, we can teach children to care for the planet in a way that inspires confidence. This approach helps nurture the next generation of compassionate and proactive environmental guardians.
Do you see the impacts of your work filtering upward to parents/is their buy-in from the parents?
Gardening with the children as part of Green LEYF
We’ve received incredible feedback from our parents, and we’re committed to involving them as much as possible in our sustainability journey. Many of the initiatives in our nurseries have been inspired by parents who share new ideas with us. We typically trial these suggestions, and if successful, we expand them across the entire nursery.
To keep parents informed and engaged, we share our successes through our online learning portal, newsletters, and direct communication from the nursery. Our eco-champions play a key role in bridging the gap between home and nursery, with their efforts inspiring positive changes that parents are now seeing reflected in their homes.
As an architect, I’m obviously concerned about the buildings (and landscape) - are there plans to put measures in place to improve the buildings too?
As part of our building design principles, we have ongoing plans to enhance sustainability and proud to have several of our buildings fully decarbonised, thanks to support from local authorities and various funders.
All our buildings are on regular maintenance schedules to ensure they operate at peak efficiency. When components reach the end of their lifecycle, they are replaced with environmentally friendly alternatives, further reinforcing our commitment to sustainability.
Is there anything you’d like to see at a higher policy/Government level that would help nurseries to deliver more initiatives like this?
Recognition of the importance of Early Years would be an ideal start and access to more funding for the sector as a whole. A lot of nurseries are struggling due to lack of funding and it looks like it’s only going to get worse. Nurseries that want to be more environmentally friendly may not have the means to start their journey due to lack of funds/grants that we have access to. The majority of funds/grants are for primary schools onwards so Early Years is often overlooked.
I know LEYF works really hard to provide affordable child care - which is particularly important at the moment, is funding the biggest barrier to getting these initiatives into nurseries? How does the sustainability work get funded/is earmarked etc?
Funding rates provide the most significant challenge, but we are fortunate to have a CEO, board of trustees, and executive management team who are fully aligned with our vision and committed to the journey. This strong leadership allows us to plan responsibly for the future and ensures that Green LEYF will continue to thrive for years to come. You can find out more about our approach to leadership in our Social Leadership book.
Additionally, we collaborate with 12 incredible sustainable partners who are essential to the success of Green LEYF. These partners have generously supported and funded several of our green initiatives, while also offering their time and expertise to help us achieve our goals.
Exploring the natural world as part of Green LEFY
If you could give some advice to a nursery (or nursery group) who want to start implementing similar schemes but don't know where to start, what would it be? Where have you found it difficult?
Advice I always give to anyone starting their Sustainability Journey is to start small – baby steps are still a step in the right direction. Sustainability can be overwhelming at times and trying to get too much done at the start can often lead to nothing being done. Start with a main area of focus e.g reducing water, waste, electricity etc and wait until the behaviours behind that have been embedded and you can see the change.
Then you can start looking at the next steps of your short and long term goals and get your team on the journey with you.
Lastly, how do you see LEYF progressing with its sustainability agenda - what’s next?
We are always looking at different ways we can support and expand Sustainability in the Early Years and show the importance of teaching this to the future change agents – the children within our nurseries. We’ve recently started a COP (Community of Practice) around Sustainability (Link Below) and are fortunate enough to have people from around the world sharing best practices and collaborating on future projects.
Further reading
Action for Sustainability in Education | Community of Practice | Groups | LinkedIn
50 Fantastic Ideas for Sustainability : O'Sullivan, June, Corlett, Nick: Amazon.co.uk: Books
