Greener Henley is a grassroots organisation that relies on volunteers.
We are constantly growing our community and are always open to new ideas.
Many of our groups meet regularly, creating local networks, sharing ideas. If you’d like to be a part of this or have an idea you want to discuss or progress, let us know – we’d love to hear from you! Maybe you have skills that could be useful – have you experience in communications, social media or events? Have you been a lobbyist, or are you interested in wildlife or conservation? Perhaps you are retired and would like to help with green projects in a local school? Or are you simply concerned about climate and nature and want to make a difference?
The Green Futures programme is inclusive, reaching out to all local schools in Henley and the surrounding area, wherever they are on their sustainability journey. Within the programme we run two annual events – a Schools Science Fair and an Environmental Science Challenge.
Our Green Futures Awards recognise and celebrate schools’ climate and nature action at three progressive levels:
Greener Henley’s awards programme is rooted in the Henley community, linking schools directly with local nature campaigns and events such as Greener Henley’s Nature Squared campaign. It uniquely embeds resilience at its heart, helping schools to prepare for increasing climate impacts such as flash flooding and intense heat.
Launched online in October 2025 to an initial audience of 15 local schools, the awards generated immediate interest and a strong first wave of applications.
By February 2026, the first cohort had been recognised with 12 awards. Gillotts School received the first Silver award, and Sonning Common Primary received the first Gold award.
The Green Futures Awards programme is open to schools in Henley and the surrounding areas, extending to Caversham, Wargrave, Benson, Goring-on-Thames, and the Hambleden Valley. Any schools (nursery to secondary / colleges) interested in joining the programme can find more information, including how to sign up, at [LINK TO SIGN UP FORM}
At Greener Henley, we believe the Green Futures Awards have the potential to inspire communities beyond our town.
We are delighted to share our resources and learning with local groups across the country who would like to develop similar initiatives in their own areas. By working together and exchanging ideas, we can amplify the impact of community-led climate and nature action nationwide.
If you’d like to understand more about what the Awards involve – including their aims, structure, and community impact – you can watch the recording of our online launch event here.
We’d love to hear from groups interested in bringing Green Futures to their own communities.
We run two annual events, both of which any local school can take part in, whether or not they are not participating in our Awards programme. Greener Henley’s Schools Science Fair – an event that we have organised and run since 2024 – regularly welcomes over 100 children from more than 15 local schools for peer-led learning and discovery of our natural world. In 2025 the Science Fair was hosted by Henley College, where media students made a short film of the event.
Our second yearly event is our Environmental Science Challenge [link to more info/blog], which invites schools and students to consider a different theme or question each year. In 2026 the theme is ‘Stop! Look! Listen! Noticing Nature’, prompting everyone to notice the diversity of wildlife that surrounds us. Participants are encouraged to be as creative as they like in response to the theme.
In past years submissions have spanned various curriculum subjects – not just science, but combinations of maths, English, art, design and technology. How each school approaches this challenge is for them to decide. We aim to publicly display the resulting works. In the past we have exhibited this work at the River & Rowing Museum and the 2026 entries will go on display at Henley’s Old Firestation Gallery.