Sustainability

Our Commitment to Education for Sustainability

The Point Preschool has a very strong commitment to the environment
and education for sustainability. The aim of education for sustainability is
to promote a sense of responsibility, respect, empowerment, active
participation, enquiry and social change to make a positive
difference. Not just now but also for future generations.
Within our curriculum education for sustainability focuses on our shared
Aboriginal history of connections with the land and reconciliation;
biodiversity – nature connections, gardens and animals; environmental
health – eliminating chemicals and pesticides; slow food – growing our
own food, respecting the natural rhythms of seasons and food
traditions; resources – responsible use of water and energy, waste
minimization, fair trade and the sharing of resources; and living in peace
with each other and nature.
Early childhood is a great time to involve children in education for
sustainability and develop lifelong practices to ensure the respect and
protection of each other and our planet. We believe a sense of wonder,
belonging to and love of the natural environment, living things and
animals is critical for young children to develop lifelong respectful,
positive and proactive attitudes towards protecting our environment,
caring for all living creatures and creating a sustainable environment.
At our place the children are actively involved in sustainable practices
every day. Education for sustainability has strengthened our relationships
with the children, families and community. It has also given The Point
Preschool a reputation of being a leader in early childhood education for
sustainability and the recipient of awards and contributed to our proud
achievements.
We hope your family will become as involved in caring for our planet as
your children.

Our Sustainable Building

We are very pleased to tell everyone that after ten years of fundraising
and lobbying government at a local and state level, our preschool
renovations were completed in February 2010. The preschool is unique – a green building, designed following sustainable and environmentally
friendly practices by Pidcock – Architecture + Sustainability who have
many years experience in the field of green building.

The Point Preschool now boasts an enlarged classroom, covered verandah
with views to the George’s River, new office, bathroom/shower with
disabled access, children’s locker room and staff/parent meeting room.
The amount of storage space has been doubled and the existing kitchen
and children’s toilets have been refurbished. The new look classroom has
been transformed into a spacious, comforting and exciting learning space.

The preschool is built from natural materials and non-toxic finishes where
possible. It has been designed to incorporate passive solar heating and
natural ventilation. The installation of 3 water tanks allows us to harvest
rain water to flush our toilets and water our garden. The building also
features double glazing, eaves, solar hot water, whirly bird roof
ventilators, ceiling fans, high level louvers to extract hot air, large sliding
glass doors, bush fire safe fly screens, energy saving lights and
energy efficient appliances. Environmentally friendly finishes include
Interface carpet tiles, natural marmoleum flooring, super reflective roof
paint, water saving taps and toilets, plantation timber and outdoor clothes
line. The existing preschool fabric was re-used to avoid waste. The
timber floor was re-sanded and re-oiled, the internal and external existing
walls and roof were repainted to look like new and our old energy hungry
air conditioner has been removed as it is no longer needed with the
improved ventilation.

In 2023 The Point Preschool is now Carbon Negative! The operations of the preschool now have negative greenhouse gas emissions.

In keeping with our sustainability principles we have installed a financially and environmentally sustainable renewable energy system. The new battery and solar photovoltaic system will avoid future electricity bills (we should make a small profit each month) and will also stop our carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2Eq = greenhouse gasses) emissions. We will also displace additional CO2Eq emissions by exporting our clean energy for others to use in the evening (when most fossil fuels are burnt to make electricity).