Frequently Asked Questions

What is your experience with special educational needs (SEN)?

I have five years experience as a Teacher / Educator working with children with diverse needs and abilities in an inclusive mainstream setting. I have worked closely with children who have diagnoses and other identified needs including ASD, PDA, ADHD, Social Emotional and Mental Health, Behavioural Emotional and Social Development, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Global Development Delay and Hearing Impairment. Many of these children have an EHCP but not all. My approach is to: 

1. Grow caring relationships 

2. Create safe spaces for children to be themselves, to try new things and to welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn.

3. Make adaptations so that each child can be included in the main learning opportunities together with the group rather than doing something separate or different (unless they want to).      

4. Celebrate every child's gifts and abilities.

My relational and inclusive approach was recognised by school leadership and in 2020 I became the school Inclusion and DIversity Lead, alongside Teaching. I did this for two years before leaving mainstream school and setting up Little Forest. At Little Forest, I find that children who struggle in a mainstream setting, feel safe, calm and can flourish in this small and nurturing setting. 

Before teaching, I represented families who have children with profound and multiple learning difficulties and who use respite or short break services. I consulted with these families and gave them a platform to have their voices heard by local authority commissioners. I worked for a large local authority to implement the Equality Act, 2010, when it was brought into law. Finally, I am trained as a sailing instructor for Langstone Sailability and I volunteered with them as a helm taking crews of children and young people of all abilities out to sail in Langstone Harbour. 

What is a typical day like?

We have a very open and flexible structure for each day. Some structure gives children a sense of safety whilst flexibility allows for self direction, negotiation and real time adaptive planning (great life skills) in order for learning to emerge organically. 

09:30 - Arrival, time to settle in, re-connect and share exciting news 

09:45 - Morning meeting starts at about 09:45 and usually lasts for about half an hour. During this time we tune into ourselves, check in with each other and go over the plan for the day to make any adaptations or agreements necessary.  

10:15 - Play, projects and plans for the day

 Food is eaten whenever the children are hungry. We usually sit down together at about 12:00 for a shared lunch. 

13:00 - Play, projects and plans for the day

15:00 - Tidy up for home time and afternoon meeting

On a day to day basis, we are highly adaptive to allow space for emergent learning and organic growth. Sometimes we learn indoors, sometimes we take our learning outside. 

Do you run all year round? All weathers?

Yes, we run all year round and we have contingency plans in place for extreme weather such as high winds. For example, if it is a Forest Circles day, but high winds are forecast, we may ask parents to drop their children off at Horsham Library instead. We would then use Horsham Library as our base for the day. This will only happen in exceptional circumstances, in line with our risk assessments, to protect the children from extreme weather risks. Our term dates are on the booking page of our website. 

Why do you have four terms?

We have winter, spring, summer and autumn terms so that our learning can flow in sync with the seasons. Winter is a time for reflection, looking in to ourselves and out to our place in the universe. We zoom out to understand that Earth is our home and we think about our place in time and space. Spring is a time of growth. We zoom in to look at ourselves and we plant seeds both physically and metaphorically for the growth of each child's wishes. Summer is a productive and creative time when we look more closely at our relationship with nature using the ideas of circles and reciprocity. Autumn is a time of harvesting and sharing the benefits of our learning. We encourage children to think more deeply about how they can share their learning with their community and use it to help make the world a happier place. Within this natural cycle, the children help to plan what the next term is going to look like so we only tend to look ahead one term at a time.