London Borough of Havering Early Years Conference & Exhibition 2023

Cheryl Hadland

Cheryl Hadland, MA(Ed), is the Founder and Managing Director of Hadland Care Group and Chair of GECCO (Green Early Years Champions for Change), a charity that shares good practice in sustainability within the early years sector. She was the founder sponsor of the APPG (Childcare and Early Education) in 2017 following political decisions that rocked all 3 pillars of sustainability, threatening the existence of good quality early years education even before covid, inflation and massive utilities increases came along. The nurseries follow SchemaPlay pedagogy and use the OMEP Education for Sustainability awards to audit environments and provide curriculum signposting. After 35 years working in early years, Cheryl believes that the sector has a vital responsibility to safeguard the healthy and prosperous future of children by doing what we can to embed sustainability in every decision we make. Tops became B.Corp in 2021, was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (Sustainable Development) in 2022 for thought leadership and innovation in early years education. Tops were the first large group of nurseries where all settings had achieved Eco Schools Green Flags, SAS Plastic Free Champions and to operate at NetZero CO2e emissions overall. After studying sustainability with Cambridge University post-grad, she will defend her doctoral thesis on sustainability in the early years in 2024.

June O’Sullivan MBE

Chief Executive – London Early Years Foundation. As CEO and creator of the UK's leading childcare social enterprise, June continues to break new ground in the development of LEYF's scalable social business model. She remains a tireless campaigner, looking for new ways to influence policy and make society a better place for all children and families. June developed the LEYF Pedagogy and champions community-based, multi-generational early years education as the basis for greater social and cultural capital to deliver long-term social impact. She continues to advise Governments as well as a range of organisations, academics and services at home and overseas about how best to implement a social enterprise vision for Early Years. June is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Trustee of The Book Trust, and her local library, Upper Norwood Library Trust. She is currently a member of the London Mayor’s Advisory Group on Child Healthy Weight and the Mayor’s Skills Partnership Board as well as a Commissioner for the Future of Westminster Commission. June was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours in 2013, for her services to London’s children. Read June’s blog: http://www.leyf.org.uk/blog Follow her on Twitter www.twitter.com/JuneOSullivan https://www.linkedin.com/in/june-osullivan/

Shweta Bahri

Shweta is the founder of Earth Warriors Global, a social enterprise on a mission to empower children globally to take climate action through age-appropriate climate education. She is an education policy specialist who has worked with governments, multilateral organisations and civil society in South Asia and Africa over the last 12 years. Shweta started her career at Oxford Policy Management and most recently worked at the Ark Education Partnerships Group before starting Earth Warriors. She is also the founder of No More Waste which is a platform to promote sustainable solutions for individuals and businesses in India. Shweta has a Master’s in Public Administration from the LSE & an undergraduate degree in Land Economy from Cambridge University.