Durham Home Ed Community Hub

Durham Home Ed Community Hub Award Winning Community Hub for home educated children aged 3-16 based in Durham City and the surrounding area.
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🩵 Wednesday Win  🩵We run Wednesday to Friday in locations in and around Durham City so today marks the beginning of our ...
30/09/2026

🩵 Wednesday Win 🩵

We run Wednesday to Friday in locations in and around Durham City so today marks the beginning of our 'week'. It's always a good day to look back and celebrate something special from last week. There are so many things to choose from but today I really have to celebrate a certain little one that started our art classes last week with Kelly and Jenn from Turpentyne Fine Art Classes & Art Supply

This little artist tried our art classes a year or so ago and wasn't quite ready. A year later, a space became available and he gave it another go. What a fantastic result for his first class. Well done! We are so proud of you!

To enquire, please email [email protected]

🩵 Teacher Spotlight 🩵This week we are placing the spotlight on Anthea Stock We are so lucy to have Anthea visit us twice...
29/09/2026

🩵 Teacher Spotlight 🩵

This week we are placing the spotlight on Anthea Stock

We are so lucy to have Anthea visit us twice a month to share her skills with us. She offers the following at DHECH:

🔢 Active Arithmetic (4-7 years)
📚 Literacy Builders (7-9 years)
🦀 Project Studio (9-11 years) - Animal Kingdom for 2026/27
🧶 Traditional Crafts (9-11 years)
🎨 Waldorf Holistic Workshop - 2 groups on offer, one for ages 5-9 and one for 9+(the older group is currently based on Ancient Egyptian Mythology.

Please email Una for details and availability [email protected]

Hello, I'm Anthea. I am a fully qualified Waldorf teacher with over 25 years experience working with children and young people and I must say that I love my work. My approach may be different to many teachers as I teach in such a way as to engage the whole child in the learning process, through their head (Intellect), heart (imagination and creativity) and hands (practical work). My sessions are structured so that there is a regular rhythm and routine so that the children feel safe, secure and relaxed as they know what to expect. My favourite lessons are when the children are completely engaged in healthy activities and they are smiling and having fun. I feel that movement is very important for children and facilitates learning. I enjoy teaching them how to skip or perform bean bag exercises. Singing and reciting verses with actions is also a lovely way to learn. I begin each Waldorf session in this way and my active arithmetic sessions are full of movement, songs, games and fun, whilst learning maths!! Another important aspect of teaching for me is to ensure that the children are emotionally connected to what I am teaching and the content is age appropriate for their development stage. They are then more likely to remember the idea or concept and/or produce an excellent piece of work. This is achieved through my lively descriptions or imaginative story telling. I enjoy getting to know the children, supporting them as best I can on their learning journey, offering encouragement, developing their resilience and confidence in their growing abilities and helping them to become independent life long learners. I have always worked with mixed age groups, often with a wide range of abilities and needs. I am, therefore able to differentiate so each child feels included and able to participate.

RelationshipsChildren learn from people they trust. That's why relationships aren't an extra part of what we do at DHECH...
28/09/2026

Relationships

Children learn from people they trust. That's why relationships aren't an extra part of what we do at DHECH and are part of the foundation. We are lucky enough to have some fantastic teachers that have helped us develop learning pathways from age 4 through to 16.

Our teachers have the opportunity to really get to know the children and young people who attend their sessions, including the things they sometimes find difficult. We know we can't rush relationship building and it needs to happen organically and naturally over time.

💚 Thrive Stage (Ages 9–11)An invitation to join us…Something begins to shift around the Thrive Stage. Children are devel...
26/09/2026

💚 Thrive Stage (Ages 9–11)

An invitation to join us…

Something begins to shift around the Thrive Stage. Children are developing stronger interests and opinions, becoming more independent and increasingly ready to take ownership of what and how they learn.

Our Thrive Stage gives them space to stretch themselves - academically, creatively, socially and practically, without losing the relationships, curiosity and enjoyment that we believe should sit at the heart of learning.

Families at the Thrive Stage can access:

• Art with Turpentyne Fine Art Classes & Art Supply
• Arts Awards with Turpentyne Fine Art Classes & Art Supply
• Waldorf Holistic Workshops (Greek Mythology) with Anthea Stock
• Spanish with Lingotot Durham
• Literacy Focus with Playful Learning Collective
• Sports with Sammy
• STEM Club with Playful Learning Collective
• Thrive Science with The Curiosity Lab
• Ocean Science with The Sea we See
• Project Studio (Animal Kingdom) with Anthea Stock
• World Explorers with Darren
• Traditional Crafts (Hand Sewing) with Anthea Stock
• Choir with Una
• Play Club with Sammy
• Junior Chefs with Creative Kitchen HQ
• Céilí Club with Tyneside Irish Dance
• Junior Youth Leaders with Sammy
• Project Challenge Packs
• IXL Maths, English and Science
• AQA Unit Awards
• Community events and celebrations
• Theatre Trips at Sunderland Empire and Gala Durham

It's a broad programme because children at this age are discovering what lights them up. They can try new things, deepen existing interests and learn alongside a consistent community of other home-educated children.

Our provision runs Wednesdays to Fridays at locations in and around Durham City.

If you're looking ahead to the next stage of your child's home education, you're very welcome to come and discover DHECH. Email Una for further information [email protected]

🩵 Friday Feedback 🩵
25/09/2026

🩵 Friday Feedback 🩵

🔎 Provision Highlight: Our Projects PathwayOur Projects Pathway allows children to take an idea and run with it by askin...
24/09/2026

🔎 Provision Highlight: Our Projects Pathway

Our Projects Pathway allows children to take an idea and run with it by asking questions, researching, making decisions and creating something they are proud of.

Rather than expecting children to suddenly know how to complete an independent project when they're older, the pathway introduces those skills gradually, with the level of independence and challenge increasing as children grow.

For our younger learners (ages 4-7), Project Challenge Packs (£25 per term) provide accessible, engaging ways to begin exploring topics and completing small projects.

From there, My Big Project (ages 7-11) gives children an opportunity to take greater ownership of their choice of topic and begin developing their ideas over a longer period.

In Project Studio, learners aged 9-11 work on a more substantial project (Animal Kingdom for this year), developing skills in research, planning, creativity and presentation with support along the way.

Project Skills for 11+ children takes this further, helping older learners develop the practical skills they need to plan, research, organise and complete increasingly independent work.

Ultimately, learners can progress to the Integrative Education Independent Project, an accredited Level 2 qualification equivalent in level to a GCSE.

And at the end of this school year, our project learners have the opportunity to share and celebrate what they've created as part of our Project Showcase.

For further information, please email Una [email protected]

🩵 Wednesday Win  🩵 We run Wednesday to Friday in locations in and around Durham City so today marks the beginning of our...
23/09/2026

🩵 Wednesday Win 🩵

We run Wednesday to Friday in locations in and around Durham City so today marks the beginning of our 'week'. It's always a good day to look back and celebrate something special from last week. There are so many things to choose from but I really have to give a shout out to Jemma from Creative Kitchen HQ

We had a fantastic session with our youngest learners (Wonder Stage - ages 4-7). The children enjoyed an incredibly nurturing session, making bread inspired by The Little Red Hen. This is part of our Literacy Foundations scheme run in collaboration with Playful Learning Collective, Creative Kitchen HQ and Captain Raggy Beard

To enquire, please email [email protected]

🩵 Teacher Spotlight 🩵Come and learn Spanish alongside our fantastic teacher, Michael on Thursdays! October entry availab...
23/09/2026

🩵 Teacher Spotlight 🩵

Come and learn Spanish alongside our fantastic teacher, Michael on Thursdays! October entry available now. Email [email protected] Fantastic small group learning aimed at 7-11 year olds but under 7s and over 11s very welcome too.

About You:

I'm Michael, I work for Lingotot teaching a wide variety of children in and outside of Mainstream settings. I have experience working with children of all ages within Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 as well as SEND children across different settings.

Prior to joining Lingotot, I had been a classroom teacher for 10 years working in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. My love of languages and imparting language learning in a slightly more fun and engaging manner led me to this area of work.

About Lingotot Durham:

Lingotot's philosophy is that languages should be child play. We provide language learning from age 0-11 through community classes, school curriculum provision, nursery and EYFS sessions, after school clubs and holiday camps. Whoever we are teaching we do it through songs, games, stories and lots of interaction so that children don't even realise they are learning!

As a secondary school teacher I was becomong incredibly frustrated with the negative attitudes I was encountering towards my subject along with the pressure to achieve results. I wanted to instill a love of language learning from a young age by bringing the fun back into language teaching.

My approach to children and learning:

Home-Educated children bring a different dynamic to their learning in a different setting. Working with Home-Educated children also allows me to showcase a different style of teaching than maybe used within a classroom setting, allowing perhaps more space and time for learning through games for example.

I hope children take away a sense of enjoyment from my sessions. I also hope they are able to build on their language skills as each session goes on. I'd like to think children are able to identify objects and scenarios in their daily life that they can recall in Spanish too. What matters most to me through teaching is a sense of comfort from the children, where they are happy and confident to express themselves naturally in my sessions.

My favourite part of seeing children develop is the confidence they show when they are recalling some previous knowledge or want to showcase their knowledge with such confidence.

Something about me:
When I'm not teaching, I thoroughly enjoy my weekends going to the football and meeting up with my friends. Football has also given me an opportunity to visit places I may not have otherwise visited.

If I was an expert in something different, I'd love to be an expert in Science...or Darts!!!

Something that makes me smile every single lesson without any hesitation is seeing the children enjoying themselves, smiling and hopefully engaged in a fun way!

I'd really like parents to understand that learning languages can open so many doors for a child and continue throughout to their adult life. Whether it be for simple leisurely use on holiday or professionally for a job, its use can be remarkable. I'd also like parents to understand that I believe children can learn languages in my sessions through enjoyment, plenty of energy and a lot of recall too.

Learning at their own paceChildren don't all learn the same things at the same age, in the same order or at the same spe...
21/09/2026

Learning at their own pace

Children don't all learn the same things at the same age, in the same order or at the same speed. I still consider myself a baby home eductor. Our children have never been to school and we are currently six years in. I have learnt a lot of lessons along the way and have a lot of lessons left to learn. The lesson that keeps coming back to me is that learning often comes in spurts when something finally clicks or an interest takes hold. Slow and steady definitely wins the race with some areas of our learning but I am most often surprised by the huge unexpected leaps when I least expect it.

At the hub, we understand that one of the things parents value about home education is the opportunity to allow learning to unfold at a more human pace. Sometimes that means moving ahead because a child is fascinated by something. Sometimes it means spending longer exploring an idea and sometimes it means taking a tangent into something completely unexpected!

🩵 Build Stage (Ages 7–9)An invitation to join us…The Build Stage is about exactly that: building.Building friendships. B...
19/09/2026

🩵 Build Stage (Ages 7–9)

An invitation to join us…

The Build Stage is about exactly that: building.

Building friendships. Building confidence. Building skills. Building interests. And gradually building a stronger sense of themselves as learners.

Children at this stage are often ready for a little more structure and challenge, while still needing plenty of creativity, movement, exploration and play.

Families in our Build Stage can access:

• Art with Turpentyne Fine Art Classes & Art Supply
• Arts Awards with Turpentyne Fine Art Classes & Art Supply
• Waldorf Holistic Workshops with Anthea Stock
• Spanish with Lingotot Durham
• Community Games with Sammy
• STEM Club with Playful Learning Collective
• Build Science with The Curiosity Lab
• Ocean Science with The Sea we See
• Choir or Choir Foundations with Una
• Literacy Builders with Anthea Stock
• World Explorers with Darren
• Play Club with Sammy
• Workshops at The Auckland Project
• Junior Chefs with Creative Kitchen HQ
• Céilí Club with Tyneside Irish Dance
• My Big Project
• IXL Maths, English and Science
• AQA Unit Awards
• Community events and celebrations
• Theatre Trips at Sunderland Empire and Gala Durham

There isn't one prescribed pathway through the Hub. Families can choose the parts of our provision that complement their own home education and their child's interests and needs.

Our provision runs Wednesdays to Fridays at locations in and around Durham City.

If your 7–9 year old would enjoy learning as part of a small, supportive community, we'd love to hear from you. Email Una for further information [email protected]

Address

O'Hehir Studios, Barnfield Road
Spennymoor
DL166EA

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