Woodland Adventurers® Home Ed / Flexi-School group (in Box, Corsham, Wiltshire - near Bath)
Woodland Adventurers®, Quarry Hill, Box, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 0NS

Home Ed / Flexi-School group

Voucher codes

Woodland Adventurers® runs outdoor activity sessions for children that are flexi-schooled or home educated.  We promote and support child-initiated learning in a positive environment.  Children are treated with high levels of respect where we promote independence, socialisation, self-confidence, self-esteem and self-belief, as well as activity-based learning.  

The Outdoor Adventurers group activities take place in our enchanted woodland in Box, Corsham for ages 5 to 11 years, both boys and girls during term time from 9.00am to 3.00pm.  Booking in advance is essential.  

5 to 11 years:
Prices are per child per 5 week term (i.e. one session per week X 5 weeks).

£137.50

Our Quarry Hill, Box, Corsham site is a woodland with many trees that are exposed to nature.  Trees provide some level of shelter from rain, but generally if it rains we will get wet!  It is absolutely essential that all visitors (both children and accompanying grown-ups) come with the right clothing, meaning lots of layers, waterproofs and sturdy footwear (and in the warmer months sun hats and sun cream) as well as a "can do" and "up for it" attitude to maximising the outdoor experiences for all, especially the children. ​

Booking

Start your booking by checking availability here:

Our approach

There are many reasons for choosing a home education approach for your child and the most exciting reason is that you are in control and you can make all the decisions.

Some pursue the National Curriculum and others follow their own path.  Either way, taking more responsibility means you have more control in providing your child with the foundations and skills that you believe they will need throughout their lives. 

Woodland Adventurers® provides outdoor learning and Forest School PLUS through outdoor activities in woodland and the countryside including access to farm animals - currently pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks. 

The activities themselves are only a small part of the learning.  Through the Woodland Adventurers® approach to outdoor learning and Forest School PLUS children will develop their social skills through mixing with other children of varying ages as well as grown-ups. 

Woodland Adventurers® makes every effort to provide a positive environment for the children where the word "yes" is used as much as possible, with lots of encouragement. We believe that this encourages the children to take responsibility for their decisions and builds self esteem, self confidence and self belief.  Kindness and inclusive behavior by all (to all) is of high importance in our values.All children and adults are treated with respect and as equals.  Woodland Adventurers® over time aims to encourage, nurture and enable children to become responsible, intelligent and creative people, with high levels of self-esteem, self-confidence and self-belief, who are kind to others and socialise well.

Sessions

Sessions are weekly in 5 week term peiods.  Activities will vary for each session depending on the group, weather conditions and other factors.  Sessions will include forest school type activities as well as other outdoor learning and outdoor play including topics such as:

• Fire, food hygiene and campfire cooking
• Safe use of hand tools in the woodland
• Making using natural materials
• Woodland survival skills
• Map reading and navigation
• Natural lifecycles and growing
• Looking after farm animals
  
• Natural art and sculpture
• Renewable energy (visit to solar farm)
• Team games
  
• Shelter and den building

A typical day

Each session will typically have the following planned stages:

9.00am to 9.30am - Drop off and free play
9.30am to 9.45am - Registration
9.45am to 10.45am - Free play and feed the farm animals (pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, guinea pigs)
10.45am to 12.00am - Morning activities
12.00am to 12.45pm - Lunch
12.45pm to 2.00pm - Afternoon activities
2.00pm to 2.30pm - Free play
2.30pm to 3.00pm - Tidy up and pack away
3.00pm - Pick up and depart

Note: Subject to change - variations to planning will be made for each session taking into account outdoor weather conditions, group needs, group interests and other factors at the discretion of the leaders on the day.  It is important to consider that the planning is intended as a framework, rather than detailed structure as a fundamental aspect of the Woodland Adventurers outdoor learning approach (including forest school) is to enable the children a sense of freedom to explore their own learning journey, where the leaders are facilitators and enablers (rather than teachers).

Activities are broad and real, giving children a relevant connection to all learning.  Topics that are covered are as wide as the time allows.  Our approach includes many outdoor activities and our imaginations (including those of the children) are the only limitations to what can be done.  We aim to be creative and open to ideas at all times and therefore the activity choices are developing all the time.  This is by no means an exhaustive list and current types of activities include the following:

Den / shelter building

• Learn about structures using man-made materials
• Learn about structures using natural materials
• Learn about design in terms of weather proof, stability and access
• Learn about forces, leverage, moments and safety aspects

Fire lighting (including camp fires)

• Learn risks and safety aspects of using fire
• Learn the benefits of fire
• Learn about intake, combustion and exhaust
• Learn different methods and the process of lighting fires
• Learn to cook on a fire, stove and field oven

Team games

• Learn to participate in fair competition
• Learn about health and well being including cardio-vascular exercise
• Learn about risks and safety
• Learn how to design a team game

Farm animals

• Learn about animal welfare (feeding and caring)
• Learn about different types of animals and breeds
• Learn about risks, animal temperaments, respect and safety

Use of traditional tools (e.g. bill hooks, braces, knives, saws)

• Learn about risks and safety
• Learn how to look after tools
• Learn what can be made with traditional tools and their limitations
• Learn about modern tools

Hiking and orienteering

• Learn to use an ordnance survey map
• Learn how to use a compass
• Learn about the landscape and environment
• Learn about nature
• Learn about foraging
• Learn about risks, safety, safety equipment and safety processes

Arts and crafts

• Learn about materials (natural including where to find) as well as man-made)
• Learn to use a potters wheel
• Learn sculpture
• Learn painting (materials, methods)
• Learn drawing (materials e.g. make charcoal, methods)
• Learn photography
• Learn how to make a movie / film
• Learn about nature, foraging and collecting for art

Play

• Learn to explore own ideas and make them happen

Benefits

Children will learn through participating in our Forest School PLUS outdoor activities that will provide them with the learning opportunities as follows:

• Activity-specific learning (topic dependent e.g. farm related, wood craft related, arts and crafts, navigation and orienteering, outdoor cooking, construction and engineering and physical education)
• Social skills (understanding personal relationships, making friends, respecting themselves, respecting their peers and respecting authority / rules)
• Building of self esteem, self confidence and self belief through positive affirmation whilst working with others including children and adults.

Many activities are child led or child initiated.  However, rather than chaos(!) there is time for structure and group tasks in particular require the engagement of all.  Inclusion is implemented in a positive manner at all times and children are respected as key members and everyone is considered equal, with a valid view point that must be respected.

The Home Ed group is activity based, using the freedom of the outdoors to explore, have fun and to socialise with other children.  Activities are a mix of fast activities and slower activities such as den building, hiking, camp fires, wood craft, team games, feeding farm animals and more.  In today's increasingly 'screen-based' world (computer games and TV) we aim to provide children with an opportunity for a counterbalance, providing children with 'real' fun that will create lifelong positive memories. 

Flexi-school

Children are welcome from full time home education and part time home education.  Part time home education is often referred to as "flexi-school".  Flexi-school is where there is an agreement with the child's school that they are partly educated in a different setting.  This setting should be complementary to their school education and can take many forms.  Woodland Adventurers supports families that take a flexi-school approach by providing a Forest School education in the same way as that offered to other home educated children. 

However there are some differences.  For example, the school will require reassurance that the alternative, flexi school education is complementary and of benefit to the child's overall development and education. They will also want to see a reasonable rate of educational progress.

Woodland Adventurers® is very happy to work closely with the school and parents to establish common goals.  We treat this as a 3-way partnership where open feedback is provided confidentially between the 3 parties aimed at achieving the agreed goals for the child.  This may require evidence of a structured education and learning outcomes through the Forest School activities, normally with regular progress reviews. 

However it is also important to balance structure with the broader benefits of Forest School and the greater inherent flexibility where the education and learning will develop and evolve during each activity.  For example, it is possible that we may set out to cover a topic of learning and the real life experiences at the time take us in new directions that are still educationally relevant and of high importance.  In such a case the alternative learning outcomes can be demonstrated.

What is included?

Included in each session are the following:

• Forest School session from 9.00am to 3.00pm on the respective day.
• Outdoor activities.  These will vary depending on the session.

Children should bring a packed lunch, ideally in a small ruck sack. 

Availability? 

Our Home Education group is proving to be very popular.  We have now decided to increase the frequency of sessions and to run the group on a weekly basis (rather than every fortnight as previously).  There is still some availability but this is now getting more limited.

If you are interested in joining the group then please do get in touch to find out more.  See "For more information" below.

If the interest and popularity continues to grow we are very happy to consider running another session on an additional week day.  Again, do get in touch to discuss further and to show your interest.  Thank you. 

Terms and Conditions

For Terms and Conditions visit our Terms and Conditions web page.

For more information

Bookings are taken online.

For general enquiries you can contact us by phone or you can email us using our contact form - see the Contact web page.

We are located in Box, Wiltshire (between Bath and Chippenham) and we have families visiting from across Wiltshire, Somerset and South Gloucestershire, including Bath, Chippenham, Corsham, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, Bristol, Swindon, Colerne, Wootten Bassett, Trowbridge, Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Wells, Malmesbury, Devizes, Calne, Melksham, Tetbury, Warminster and Glastonbury.