New Sessions

At Hakeford Woods Forest School we are keen to develop the Forest School and site to provide the maximum benefit that we can for the local community. Below we are outlining some of the projects that we would like to develop in the coming years. If any of these potential projects are of interest to you please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Woodland Volunteers at Hakeford Woods

Through our work in our Wellbeing in Nature sessions, we have seen how beneficial volunteering can be for many people. Working with others in a natural environment can help people in many ways, including the chance to socialise, keep fit, learn new skills and spend time outside listening to the river and the birds. We will be running regular sessions on where will carry out a variety of different projects, as well as other days such as tree planting.

Wellbeing Project for young people with Mental Health Difficulties

We have seen through our Wellbeing in Nature sessions how much can be gained by those struggling with their mental health by spending time doing positive things in the natural environment. Stuart and his colleagues have spent many years working in the education system and know that for some young people that isn't really enough for them in terms of their wellbeing. Through previous work and the work that has taken place at Hakeford Woods in the last four years we are aware of how much of a problem mental health is for many young people. We hope to work with different agencies in the coming months to establish a programme of session for young people struggling with their mental health.

Forest School for Young Adults with

Additional Needs

Hakeford Woods Forest School is hoping one day to be able to offer weekly sessions for young adults with Special Educational Needs. The sessions would be largely participant led. It would take place outdoors, involving a variety of activities, but most importantly, provide therapeutic and educational work experience opportunities for the participants.

At Hakeford Woods we have a wild woodland site, where we run Forest School sessions for children, young people and adults.

We also provide work experience opportunities for young people and adults struggling to gain long term employment.

For the Post 16 SEN sessions, it is our intention to have a high ratio of supporting adults and provide a variety of different opportunities, tailoring the activities to the strengths, needs and interests of the attending participants.

Examples of activities that can be included in the sessions:

Green woodwork and construction.
Woodland management and maintenance
Gardening, horticulture and permaculture
Nature and wildlife based activities
Crafting activities
Campfire cooking
Primitive skills.

Funding/Costs/Payment

Costs of sessions would be dependent on the necessary support ratio for the participants.

Young people with Special Educational Needs with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC) should have an entitlement to access a Personal Budget that can be used to fund some or all of the session costs.

We are also in the process of making enquiries into the possibility of obtaining additional funding to help reduce the costs to families, or to enable us to increase the ratio of support staff.

Further Information

If you would like to discuss any specific aspects of what we may be able to offer, or arrange a visit to our site, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by email and we’ll call you back as soon as possible.