The celebrations started a couple of days before the official week long event (September 5-11), and saw the Wombarra Preschool add their own  touch to the festivities.

Director of KU Wombarra Preschool, Fiona Harris, encouraged families to wear their favourite colour for a rainbow photo and to be involved in the clean-up as part of the preschool’s sustainability plan.

‘‘The children are coming to understand that there are problems with the ways humans live on the earth, and they were worried about it,’’ Ms Harris said.

‘‘I didn’t want them to feel overwhelmed with the problems, I wanted them to come to an understanding that there are things that we can all do, really simple things, that make a difference to the environment.’’

As part of their Beach Friends program, children visit the beach each week for two hours to explore the coast line while learning about its Indigenous heritage, and sustainable living.

‘‘We know  children need to first love nature before we ask them to save it. They need to have awe and wonder about the world that they’re living in,’’ Ms Harris said. KU Wombarra Preschool has  recently received an Australian College of Educators award for Outstanding Practice. 

‘‘It was fantastic for early childhood to stand up and be counted in terms of being an educational provider because many people think that preschool is about child care, but we’re actually about educating children before they go to school,’’ Ms Harris said.