Australia To Open Its First-Ever Vegan Preschool With Plant-Based Offerings For Kids, From Syllabus To Food

According to Vegan Australia, a non-profit organization, Australia will soon get its first-ever vegan preschool, Sustainable Play, to encourage eco-practices among children like following plant-based diets and visits to local farms and national parks.

According to Vegan Australia, the Sustainable Play Preschool will be the country’s ‘first 100% vegan preschool’ to open its doors for children aged between 3 to 5 this year. Located in Newcastle, Australia, the preschool aims to encourage eco-friendly practices among children such as growing their own vegetable patches to making use of local produce, all a part of their educational syllabus.

We envision a world where children grow aware of sustainable practices and animal ethics, advocating for the environmental health of our planet in a responsible and empowered way. Children are the future, and as the global need for sustainable development increases, as does the need to implement sustainability into children’s education

Vision Statement of Sustainable Play

Sustainable Play’s vision statement underscores the school’s commitment to involving kids in the sustainability conversation: “We envision a world where children grow aware of sustainable practices and animal ethics, advocating for the environmental health of our planet in a responsible and empowered way. Children are the future, and as the global need for sustainable development increases, as does the need to implement sustainability into children’s education.”

With a special focus on creative play, the preschool mentioned some of the eco-practices the children will get to be a part of: “Excursions will take pupils to local farms and national parks to ‘learn about the world through their experiences in nature’.”

Other sustainable practices will include supporting local businesses and collecting rainwater along with kids learning about harvesting, cooking and composting food, so they are accustomed to growing their own plant foods and preventing waste in the future.

Children rely on the right balance of nutrients for healthy growth and development. Sustainable Play Preschool recognises the importance of good nutrition for kids. Reflecting this, we will provide healthy, local, plant-based food, made fresh daily onsite

Sustainable Play

Aside from this, the preschool will serve completely plant-based meals designed by a dietician and created using items grown in the school’s in-house garden itself. The vegan menus that will change on a week to week basis, will include morning smoothies rich in nutrients and lunches that include tofu mac ‘n’ cheez and chickpea ‘tuna’ sandwiches. Kids will also have access to carrot and zucchini muffins and vegan ice cream made using bananas.

Highlighting the importance of vegan meals for kids, Sustainable Play added: “Children rely on the right balance of nutrients for healthy growth and development. Sustainable Play Preschool recognises the importance of good nutrition for kids. Reflecting this, we will provide healthy, local, plant-based food, made fresh daily onsite.”

Recently in the U.S., former education officials penned an open letter to the Biden-Harris administration, calling for the introduction of climate education in schools and highlighting how important it is for the country’s 50 million children to brace themselves for the impacts of climate change and help them ‘advance a more sustainable world’. 

In September of last year, the New Jersey State Board of Education adopted new guidelines to include the topic of climate change in the educational syllabus throughout its K-12 learning standards.

In Brighton, England, parents appealed to the local council to make vegan lunches available in all schools along with charities calling on the UK government to remove meat from school menus entirely.

Slowly and steadily with the dawn of these new initiatives, children will be better informed on climate change from a young age and will have an opportunity to understand what they can do to contribute towards a safer and healthier future on the planet.

Lead image courtesy of Sustainable Play Preschool.