22/12/2024
Last night we washed off the mud & celebrated as a staff team the Christmas break and all of the fun we've had at work so far this year. So blessed to work with such special passionate women. Of course we ate, drank, danced & put the world to rights thank you to my wonderful team. And those who couldn't make it who were truly missed!
A very Merry Christmas and love and light to all! 🎄🎉
20/12/2024
As I reflect back on the year of 2024 and all it's brought for us at Kids Go Wild it can only be looked at as positive change! 🔥🌿
I made the big decision to home-educate my little one (not so little now! 🙈🤣). And she's thriving in our home-ed provision along with attending lots of other groups and having her needs met that she masked for a long time.
But back to KGW! We moved site! Which at first was an extremely daunting thing, and the panic was truly there on if we would survive. To my surprise so many families came with us to our new location, even if the distance was further for them and honestly if it wasn't for this dedication from our customers I think we would have folded.
Our staff team is solid as ever, with a few more of our staff enrolled in forest school training in the new year with . Our lovely new manager Emma has taken the reigns of managing nursery while I'm busy directing the business, and what a fabulous job she is doing with the support of all our amazing practitioners.
Site improvement has been the main focus this year a long with lots of in depth staff training on SEND & SEMH. Our Alternative Provision is high in demand, our home-education group more established and all children thriving.
Lots of super fun forest school parties & stay and play sessions have taken place too!
I guess you could say I'm just full of gratitude that we can continue to call this work.
Thank you to all who keep us in business, and all who help me run the business! My graphic designer , my wonderful accountant Victoria Martin. Big thanks to for teaching our littlies Spanish every week in a very engaging and vibrant way! 🇪🇸
That's me over & out now for Christmas break and I'm having a digital detox as much as possible so will be quiet on here and answer all messages & enquiries again in the new year.
Time to rest & recharge with my own family, probably mostly in nature!
P.s thanks to one of my lovely long standing parents for taking this photo of me on site! 🤣🔥
Love & light to all.
Merry Christmas! 🎄🎅🎁
20/12/2024
A few of my favourite photos of forest school Nursery & Home-Ed group in 2024.
What a first term we've had!
Not too late to join us in 2025, email for a prospectus, our next open day is Monday 13th Jan - www.bookwhen.com/kidsgowild
🔥🌿🌳🌱
20/12/2024
COME & JOIN OUR TEAM 🌟🌿🔥
We have some part time positions opening in the new year for a unique job role in setting up our bespoke Alternative Provision forest school sessions at our fantastic site in Dane Bank, Denton.
This provision includes tailored therapeutic forest school led sessions in a natural outdoor environment for a very small group of children who for many different reasons struggle to be in a school environment.
Some roles are for 1-1 support to work intensively with children & young people supporting them through childhood traumas, or some SEND needs. To enjoy the great outdoors, feel nature connection, make some friendships & relationships and gain some bushcraft skills along the way.
There is also a lead role for the group for which we need a trained FS leader (or someone already completing the training).
The right candidate must have:
- A great sense of humour
- A calm & nurturing nature
- Understanding and experience of SEND & SEMH needs
- Experience of working with children with the above needs
- Forest school training or experience
If this is a role for you, please get in contact with us ASAP. Please share with anyone you think may be suitable for this role. Maybe there are some pracitioners out there already working with children like this but are ready for a change or a different approach to education.
The closing date for applications is 3rd January, interviews to commence 6th January.
Working days - Thursday & Friday, some positions are one day, some both.
Please email for a copy of the job description, person specification & application form where rates of pay and finer details are given.
Please also email if you know of any children who would be suitable for this group.
[email protected]
20/12/2024
We loved making our own reindeer food 🦌at our last stay & play of 2024 yesterday, thanks to all who have attended this year. We are back in January doing afternoon sessions, all welcome we hope to see you there!
www.bookwhen.com/kidsgowild
18/12/2024
This is the time of year when there are so many demands and expectations placed on us and our children.
One of the ways to protect yourself and your families from additional stress, at an already stressful time of year, is to ask yourself. “How important is it?”
How important is it for your child to have to eat a Christmas Dinner?
How important is it your child to wait until Christmas Day for their presents?
How important is it for your child to watch others unwrapping their Christmas presents?
How important is it for them to visit or see family members they rarely see at other times of the year?
How important is it for your child to sit downstairs with everyone else when they feel more comfortable in their own space?
How important is it for me to respect my child’s need for autonomy?
How important is it for me to give my child space when then need it?
How important is it for me to remember that my child is neurodivergent 365 days of the year?
How important is it for me to remember that my family’s happiness is more important than traditions?
How important is it for me to remember that I can say, “No thank you, that doesn’t work for us as a family.”
Pic credit: Missing The Mark taken from my book "The Educator's Experience of Pathological Demand Avoidance which you can find here: https://tinyurl.com/46p9cjyv
18/12/2024
Stay & Play January 2025 🌿🌳🔥
Our stay and play is now Thursday PM in the new year, we hope to see you there!
www.bookwhen.com/kidsgowild
18/12/2024
Come and join us for a very festive last stay & play of the year tomorrow at Dane Bank Green Space🎄🔥 🌿🌳
All ages welcome!
10am-11.30am, camp fire snack & hot drink included 😋
www.bookwhen.com/kidsgowild
17/12/2024
As we wind down for the Christmas break Nursery have enjoyed having their grown ups attend our end of year Christmas parties this week where we made our own jingle sticks together, roasted s'mores and sang our Christmas songs with makaton signs. 🔔🎄🎁
17/12/2024
If you have read and enjoyed either of my recent books with Missing The Mark, When the Naughty Step Makes Things Worse or The Teenager's Guide to Burnout, might you consider leaving us a review on Amazon or elsewhere?
It really helps other people to find the books and to get more information about whether it might be helpful for them.
17/12/2024
Alternative Provision 🔥
As the academic year comes to a close, I am reflecting back on our acheivements this year.
Moving site was a huge change to us and shift in our practice as we all adapted to our new surroundings.
Our Home-Education group leaders have been through a great deal of continuous professional development over the last few months accessing some brilliant training with the PDA society, and the Together trust to really unpick children's behaviours. This alongside trauma training has been so beneficial.
We have now decided to change practice slightly and offer alternative provision placements on a Thursday & Friday. This is so these placements can be exclusive to the children with complex needs and backgrounds, a super small and bespoke group so that we can really support the therapeutic benefits of forest school for these children.
I'm so so proud of our team and our company in general for how far we have come with this and the ongoing journey to supporting SEMH is ongoing.
It's very sad to say but the numbers of children struggling in schools with mental health, anxiety, and unmet SEND needs is always growing and so we continue to fight for the simple life for our children, to be happy and enjoy a healthy childhood.
We do have some Alternative Provision places available on Thursday's & Friday's starting in January, at our new location in Dane Bank Denton, please do get in touch if you are interested and want a copy of our AP prospectus.
Here's a photo of one of our children showing off his success in our Wild Passport scheme which is an outdoor learning scheme where you can tick off your learnt bushcraft skills as you experience them hands on with us at forest school!
Please like & share!
17/12/2024
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czr3le77plro
The parents who insist home-education is the answer for their children
The BBC speaks with parents who insist the school system is "broken" as latest government estimates point to a rise in home education.
12/12/2024
Stay & Play ⛄️☃️
All Christmas themed activities today at stay and play, we love having you all and seeing the little ones explore the setting. Thank you 🎄all for coming.
One more next Thursday before Christmas! See you then 🎁🎊, around the camp 🔥
www.bookwhen.com/kidsgowild
09/12/2024
We are super proud of our amazing setting and all the wonderful children that spend time with us! 🌿
If you would like to know more about our completely outdoor, child-led forest school provision please get in touch for a copy of our prospectus and to arrange a visit- [email protected]
🔥🍂🌼🌳🌞
06/12/2024
I met a little boy recently who told me that he wasn’t any good at drawing. He was young in his year, and his drawings were, it’s true, fairly basic. He looked at the pictures that other children were drawing and he could see the difference. It didn’t matter what adults told him, because he could see for himself. He was learning to compare himself with others, and finding himself wanting.
It made me think about how this happens the whole way through the school system. We compare children with each other, often on purpose, through assessments and tests. We find that some of them are doing well, and others aren’t. We tell them, in subtle and less subtle ways, that some things really matter (like reading, writing and maths) and other things really don’t (like video games, trading cards and play). We show them that we think some things are more worthwhile, that we’ll help them with their reading every day, but not with their video game.
And it hurts them. They quickly learn to think about themselves as ‘clever’ or ‘behind’, and we know that this affects their learning as they get older. As adults, years later, they will still say ‘I was never any good at drawing’ or reading, or maths. They learn not to value the things that they enjoy, to see them as lesser. They say ‘I wasted my time’ when describing doing things they enjoyed.
What if our aim for childhood was to allow children time to grow into themselves? What if we prioritised showing them that there are many important things in life, and we aren’t going to be ranking them against others of their age?
What if our aim was to leave those options open, not to nail our children down as ‘behind’ before they’ve even got started. What would education look like if we gave our children time to grow?
05/12/2024
Today at stay & play we are celebrating the mud in all it's gloriousness for National soil day!