Children as young as three could take a starring role at a schools environmental awards scheme.

The 2020 Green School Awards will celebrate school-led projects in fields including green travel, conservation, air quality, recycling, and health and wellbeing.

They are open to schools from across the south-east, with winners being announced for the region as a whole, in its different districts and where applicable – in different age groups.

The awards ceremony will take place at the Ashford International Hotel in February

Ashford International Hotel general manager Veronica Kingham said: “We’re very excited about the Green School Awards, and delighted to be able to support this venture.

“We’re very interested in sustainability here at the Ashford International Hotel and try very hard to do what we can.”

Ms Kingham said it was “lovely” to be in a position to recognise projects involving children as young as nursery age, and that such initiatives helped encourage young people’s “care and understanding for our environment and everything that goes with it”.

The deadline for submitting nominations for the awards is December 1. Nominated initiatives might include school gardens, recycling schemes, walking buses or air-monitoring projects.

Apart from Ashford International Hotel, the awards are supported by NCS Technology, East Kent Recycling, the Ethical Earth Company, Golding Vision, Loop CR, SGS Energy, Streetspace and Medway Council.

Find out more about the awards at Greenschoolawards.co.uk, and watch a video in which Ms Kingham talks about them here: