Our commitment to corporate social responsibility
HFL Education (formerly Herts for Learning) is an award-winning provider of products and services to schools and educational settings within and outside Hertfordshire. We believe that every young person, through access to a great education, should be able to realise their potential, regardless of where they live or their circumstances. Our work is focused on supporting those we work with to achieve successful long-term outcomes for their children. HFL is majority owned by Hertfordshire schools and operates with a not-for-profit ethos.
Economy
Our vision is to be the company of choice for services, products and resources. Through our work we help to equip young people with the skills required to thrive in a healthy society and contribute to a vibrant economy. To remain financially sustainable in a competitive market we must operate effectively and efficiently. We demonstrate this through our strategic planning and risk management processes, value-for-money procurement and tight cost control practices.
Society
We aspire to improve the lives and opportunities of all in our community with a particular focus on closing the attainment gap for disadvantaged children. We invest any surplus made by the Company back into initiatives that benefit the whole school community. We offer young people a range of workplace opportunities, for example our apprenticeship programme and work experience placements, and support voluntary work that complements our core purpose.
People
We promote a growth mindset culture and pride ourselves on providing a safe and comfortable physical and psychological working environment for our staff. We utilise non-discriminatory recruitment practices and it is our aim to be a fully inclusive employer, with our position defined on Modern Slavery and eradicating worker exploitation. We aim to attract, develop and retain the best staff and are committed to providing learning and development opportunities for all employees. We offer a range of flexible and part-time working arrangements to support a better work life balance. We pay a real living wage and actively support the health and wellbeing of all of our employees.
Environment
We will reduce our direct impact on the environment by actively managing our consumption of natural resources, implementing comprehensive recycling and reducing our carbon footprint. By ensuring that digital is our default, we make the best use of technology to help us achieve our environmental goals, for example developing and extending remote working and replacing printed materials with digital resources.
Our partnership with Trees for Life
In 2021, we entered into a partnership with rewilding charity, Trees for Life, to support their mission to rewild the Scottish Highlands. Since 1993, they have worked tirelessly to restore the globally unique Caledonian Forest which once covered much of Scotland, but now accounts for only 1% of the original 3.7 million acres of woodland.
To date, Trees for Life has planted almost 2 million trees and has introduced species, such as Scots Pine, back to the Highlands where they have been lost to the area for generations. They are also supporting the reintroduction of habitat appropriate wildlife. The Caledonian Forest is more than just trees, it is an intricate web of life that includes the full range of wildlife that originally grew there, because without this, the forest cannot thrive and grow naturally.
We are proud to be supporting Trees for Life and to have set up the Herts for Learning grove in one of Scotland’s most beautiful glens, Glen Affric. Here, through the planting of new trees, we are mitigating our carbon surpluses, helping reduce the impact of climate change and supporting the UK to meet its net-zero target by 2050.
Find out more at: Trees for Life
Climate change and sustainability
Working in partnership with Hertfordshire County Council we share resources, suggest activities and examples of how schools in Hertfordshire can adopt a whole school approach to sustainability, to support others with further engaging pupils across all phases in environmental sustainability and climate change topics.
