Bcorp childcare – on the road to sustainability
“A Certified B Corporation is a company that has voluntarily met the highest standards for social and environmental performance.”
Following Bcorp’s high standards helps us to get better every day and improve our way of working in a sustainable, inclusive way.
It is Hestia’s mission to transform the current childcare sector and thus have a bigger and better impact on the future of children. The children of today shape the society of tomorrow. Hestia strives to be an example of how childcare organizations and schools can be part of the change towards a more conscious and social world in the future. We are the first childcare organization in the Netherlands to be Bcorp Certified. People care, Planet care & Fair share are integrated into our DNA, and we do not see how we can operate without having these three in balance.
People care at Hestia
As a social organization, our goal is to have a positive impact on all the people we are connected to. With a trained eye and a conscious attitude, we stimulate children in their development in a natural and free way according to our Hestia way (inspired by Reggio Emilia, Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner). With an open mind and an inclusive attitude, we teach children the power of collaboration and diversity. We are a learning company and look at new paths and next steps with an investigative attitude. Always guided by our vision to make a social impact, open to feedback and feedforward from the environment (such as parents, schools or government). And driven by a sense of responsibility for the new generations. Our employees are the heart of the organization.
Everything we want for our children (inclusion, self-awareness and growth) must be present in the heart of the team. That is why we offer our employees a working environment in which they are valued for being themselves. They are encouraged to develop themselves, discover hidden talents and challenge themselves with the latest technologies. Parents are part of the community and we involve them wherever and whenever we can. We celebrate international festivities and invite them to pedagogical workshops. At all our locations we have a central hall where parents can have coffee and have a nice chat with other parents or one of our team members.
Earth care
Today’s children shape tomorrow’s society. Childcare can therefore play a crucial role in making that future society more social, inclusive and aware of the world they grow up in. Educating to do and be better. That is what we do at Hestia. We teach by setting a better example. Caring for our planet is part of the Hestia Way. We teach children about all the wonders of nature. Each location has a green area where we grow our own food and educate children by involving them in the growing process. Our food is organic and we play with recycled materials as much as possible. We believe it is important for children to be outside every day. So no matter what the weather, children at Hestia play outside and enjoy the fresh air and the changing nature. Our goal is to transform our locations into sustainable and self-sufficient buildings. Step by step, we are taking the path towards a regenerative way of working.
Fair share
We are currently working on making our chain of partners more sustainable. We believe that fair sharing is important and we want to integrate it into our way of doing business.
Hestia is a Social Organization, which means that purpose and profit reinforce each other. Our goal is to make a profit in order to reinvest in the growth of Hestia. We hope that this will enable us to spread this new perspective on childcare and change the sector.
