About us

Our aims:

• encourage independence and confidence

• develop imagination 

• cultivate respect for the natural world

• harness imaginative skills

• develop friendships

• encourage taking risks

• smile and have fun!

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Emma

Emma is a Level 3 Forest School Leader. Having done a Fine art degree, specialising in taking photos of macro nature, she then decided she preferred being in nature rather then in a dark room.

Emma trained in horticulture and worked at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.

After having her 2 Children Phoebe and Dexter she trained as a Child minder, and loved engaging children with the outdoors. 

She went on to open Churchwood Forest School in 2017 and it has grown organically from there on. 

Emma is passionate about letting todays children experience the outdoors just like she was allowed to as a child. 

The Team

Caroline

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After completing a degree in Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology, Caroline went on to gain

her Primary Post Graduate Certificate in Education. She worked in a busy city primary

school, focusing on early reading intervention, behaviour management, and emotional and

social development before undertaking her Forest School Leader Level 3 award.

Caroline is pleased to be able to combine her love for working with children with her

passion for nature, conservation and sustainability. She strongly believes that spending time

outdoors develops children’s imaginations, creativity, independence and physical abilities –

as well as their happiness and well-being.

In her spare time Caroline enjoys paddleboarding, walking, camping with her friends (and

dog), and tending to her veggies on her allotment.

BSc (Hons) Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology

PGCE Primary Science with Qualified Teacher Status

Level 3 Forest School Leader

Outdoor First Aid Certificate

Level 2 Safeguarding Certificate

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Donna 

Level three forest school leader.
Pg cert in Early Years.
Early Years Professional Status.
Certificate of higher education in environmental science.
BA Hons Art and Design with Education Studies.

Outdoor and Pediatric First Aid.
Level 2 safeguarding. 

Donna is passionate about outdoor learning through adventurous, messy and child led play and exploration. She supports local families to get outside and enjoy their natural environment. 

Donna has spent many years studying how children learn and develop. She understands that through forest school, children will learn how to manage their own risks, independence and creative thinking. 

Donna is passionate about the  environment. She has put much of her own time working with Wembury Marine Centre.

In her spare time she loves camping with her husband and two young sons, wild swimming, painting and yoga.

Kathy

After many years travelling the world teaching English, I returned to the westcountry with a renewed appreciation of our local environment, in particular, the beautiful, rich and varied woodland.

Lucky enough to have my own ‘shack in the woods’ on the edge of Dartmoor, I watched my own children thrive in the outdoors and came to understand the benefits of learning outdoors to help create confident, resilient, independent learners. 

When my youngest child started school, I became keen to share some of those experiences with other children and joined my son’s school as an environmental teaching assistant. Eight years on, I am proud to say that many children at that primary school benefitted from learning outdoors; growing their own food in the school garden, exploring life in a pond they created, cooking pizzas in the oven they built, exploring real life science and experiencing the freedom of learning through child lead activities in forest school. 

I am now excited to join the team at Churchwood and look forward to sharing new experiences in another beautiful environment.