21/10/2026
Early years settings across Scarborough are set to inspire a new generation of young gardeners and healthy learners through a new programme supported by a generous donation from McCain UK IE Community Partners.
The project is being delivered by Grow to School in collaboration with the North Yorkshire Healthy Early Years Programme, providing participating settings with practical training, resources and ongoing support to encourage healthy eating, active lifestyles and outdoor learning.
As part of the programme, Ruth Stacey, Healthy Early Years Programme Officer, will work with settings throughout the year, supporting them in achieving their Healthy Early Years Award with a particular focus on Healthy Food and Active Lives.
The first of three training sessions will take place tomorrow at Coast & Vale Community Action (CaVCA), Scarborough, bringing together early years practitioners from across the area. The session will introduce sowing and growing techniques, explore effective ways of working with nursery-aged children, and demonstrate how to use the Early Years Activity Book to encourage outdoor engagement, learning and exploration.
Each participating setting will receive a Growbag Early Years Toolkit, including planting packs and resources designed to support growing activities throughout the year.
The launch event will also feature presentations from local community organisations. David Stone from CaVCA will introduce the organisation's Good to Grow project, while Darren Mancrieff from GROW Scarborough will highlight opportunities for families and settings to get involved in community growing initiatives across the town.
In addition to the initial training session, participants will benefit from an online support session in January/February, followed by further in-person training events in March and May/June. These sessions will focus on seasonal growing opportunities, outdoor learning and practical ways to embed gardening and healthy living into everyday early years practice.
Ama Chaney, one of the Directors of Grow to School said “Showing, exciting and engaging children at the earliest age has the potential to change attitudes to food. This excitement can be carried home and enable connections with community growing across Scarborough”.
The project aims to give young children hands-on experiences of growing food, developing healthy habits from an early age while strengthening connections between nurseries, families and community growing projects across Scarborough.
