Keith nursery wins outdoors award
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A KEITH nursery has beaten hundreds of others from across the north-east to win an award for encouraging youngsters to enjoy the outdoors.
The youngsters at Keith Play Centre venture out of the classroom every day from Monday to Friday, regardless of the weather.
Once a week, the three to five year-olds spend the entire day in the woods.
What's more, the older ones are even supervised as they use spades to dig out fire pits and hacksaws to chop up wood.
Carlene Harding, who runs the nursery, said: "I grew up in a farm at Grange. I remember going for walks in the woods as a child and loving the freedom to explore.
"We want to inspire our children to enjoy the wonder of nature.
"They are now excited and eager to venture outdoors instead of just staying inside.
"It's like the old saying says, there's no such thing as bad weather, only a lack of warm clothing."
The nursery's devotion to nature has seen it win the ELC Academy's award for the outdoor environment.
The judges were impressed how the staff also teach the youngsters to grow fruit and vegetables from scratch in the nursery's own garden.
These are harvested and sold to the local community.
The cash is then reinvested to buy more seeds for the following year's planting.
Carlene is certain of the benefits of being outside and active.
She said: "A bit of dirt never hurt anyone and the children love being active.
"Their stamina and fitness has improved due to the 40-minute walks we do in the woods.
"And because their immune systems have improved from being in the fresh air they are absent less due to illnesses."
For the past 13 years Keith Play Centre has been run on a not-for-profit basis,
Prior to that it was run by Moray Council and called Keith Preschool.
