Green Futures For Henley
We all want a bright future for our schools and young people. At Greener Henley we have designed a programme around this goal, with our pioneering Green Futures Awards at its centre.
This is the first independently-run, hyper-local awards programme supporting schools in embedding climate and nature action and education into their everyday learning and operations. Their progress is celebrated through a tiered award system, recognising achievement through bronze, silver, and gold levels.
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.
To understand the criteria, commitments and benefits at each level, please read our Green Futures Awards – Programme Guide
How the Green Futures Awards work
Our Green Futures Awards recognise and celebrate schools’ climate and nature action at three progressive levels:
- The Bronze award focuses on building strong communication and engagement, celebrating each school’s sustainability progress and sharing successes with their wider community.
- Silver moves into action, with pupils actively involved in climate and nature initiatives while sustainability is embedded into teaching. At this level, schools begin measuring and reducing their environmental impact as well as starting to develop operational plans around resilience.
- The Gold level represents sector leadership, supporting schools to implement a comprehensive climate action plan and embed long-term sustainability and resilience across the whole school.
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.
History of the Awards
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.
“At Gillotts, we see our involvement with Greener Henley and, in particular the Green Futures Award, as integral to our Climate Action Plan. The Award structure both helps us decide on ‘what next’ and recognises and rewards what we have achieved. The practical support from Greener Henley for us to play our part in taking action to meet one of the greatest challenges of our time is invaluable.”
Catharine Darnton, Gillotts School
Which Schools Are Eligible?
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}
Green Futures Beyond Henley
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: [to insert link to March launch recording in due course]
We’d love to hear from groups interested in bringing Green Futures to their own communities.
School Science Fair
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.
Environmental Science Challenge
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.
