WILD HEARTS FOREST SCHOOL
Welcome to Wild Hearts Forest School where we spark curiosity in the great outdoors and discover new ways of learning.
In the heart of Wiltshire, we deliver Family Forest School sessions and bespoke Forest-themed Birthday Parties for children and adults. We also welcome adults to the woods for Wellbeing and Team Building events! At Wild Hearts Forest School young people will be supported by a qualified practitioner to make their own choices and lead their own learning in line with the Forest School Principles. To find out more about what we can offer you, please get in touch.
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Forest School provides amazing opportunities for young people to flourish, by developing their confidence with hands on activities. It enables them to interact with nature, to build friendships and master new skills. Here, everyone is equal and able to achieve in their own way.​​
"No one will protect what they don't care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced."
David Attenborough
Hannah
Founder and Forest School Leader
Qualified Primary School Teacher PGCE with QTS
Level 3 Forest School Practitioner
Forest School and Paediatric First Aider
Level 2 Safeguarding
Level 2 Food Safety
BA (Hons) International Hospitality and Tourism management
FDA Professional Culinary Arts
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To run my own Forest School has been a long-held dream of mine, inspired by my best childhood memories spent playing outside. Whilst I have enjoyed working as a primary school teacher for the past 5 years, I have found that the best development takes place when a child leads their own learning and I truly believe that there is no better setting for this, than in the great outdoors. Based on my love of nature coupled with my deep rooted belief in the Forest School Principles, I decided to set up Wild Hearts Forest School in the heart of Wiltshire.
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When I am not talking about Forest School, making plans, practising new woodland skills and cooking, you will find me walking my golden retriever, exploring the countryside or paddle boarding.
A truly wonderful forest school experience. We will definitely be attending again and would have no hesitation recommending to anyone.
Absolutely wonderful experience. Hannah and the team made them feel welcome, safe and inspired them to try new things and be adventurous in the beautiful setting!
Comments from the children included 'this is awesome' and 'this is the best party I've ever been to!'.
Highly recommend for anyone who is looking for a party with a difference.
Sustainability
At Wild Hearts Forest School we are always conscious of our impact on the natural world and do our best to minimise the footprint. This means you may see us do things differently to other Outdoor Educators but we aim to give you the best organic experience that we can while being kind to the environment. Read on to find out about our practices!
Our Practises
FIRE
We use fire for a purpose. At Wild Hearts we love a fire! Fire builds community, it is memorising, warming and nurturing. Fire will always play an important part in our sessions but will only be lit for the duration that is has a purpose. There are environmental impacts to lighting a fire; it produces greenhouse gases and it uses wood which could be a habitat. Therefore by having the fire lit only for as long as it provides a purpose means that we can reduce our impact on the environment.
BEING CREATIVE
Being creative and having the opportunity to do this is at the core of the Forest School ethos. The joy of delivering Forest School in a woodland means that there is an abundance of natural resources to be used and re-used! Where possible we will not bring man-made materials into the woods and will use what is readily available to us instead. This means using nettles to make cordage, using wood to make spoons, using mud to sculpt. In the cases where we need to bring something in, we look to source recycled or biodegradable materials.
RESOURCES
We deliver a range of session types at Wild Hearts Forest School and these require different resources to be used. Where possible we use natural resources or invest in things that will last and those that are in keeping with the natural environment. This means you are unlikely to find bright, bold colours in our Forest Camp that often come from plastic equipment (lego, plastic toys, etc) and instead you will fund us using wooden stacking objects, wooden animals, leaves instead of paper and pinecones to explore gravity!
TEACHING
At Wild Hearts we want our participants to understand what we are doing and why! When you come to spend time with us we will explain why we are using natural resources and how we can reduce our impact on the environment. For example if we go foraging we will talk about only picking what we need when there is an abundance of something and be careful to leave enough for the wildlife to enjoy. We will talk about what we can do to give back to the environment! Maybe by creating feeders for the birds, habitats for the hedgehogs or dead hedging our boundaries.
LEAVE NO TRACE
We want to look after our environment and all the animals that we share it with and therefore it is important to leave no trace! This means that we are careful not to drop litter and have a thorough sweep before we leave the site. It means that when we make fires, we are careful to ensure they are properly extinguished and there is no evidence that a fire has been there. We are careful not to squash the flora, especially as we are blessed with an abundance of bluebells in spring!