Home Education Group
If you’ve decided to Home School, Flexi-School or defer school entry, we offer a half day on Thursdays (morning and afternoon) for children aged 5-15 yrs to spend in nature at our wonderful woodland site based at Auchincruive, Ayr. Our aim is to deliver the highest quality of care and education in a unique outdoor setting, giving your child the chance to grow and learn in nature.
At Little Acorns our ethos and pedagogy are hugely important parts of our Forest School provision. We believe in compassionate, child-led learning and see our roles as long-term mentors as opposed to deliverers of a curriculum. As part of that learning we aim to follow and plan around the children’s needs and interests.
“I’m so glad my child gets to spend time in the woods with you guys I wish they didn’t have to go to school and could just carry on coming here with you.”
We ask that all our participants, children and parents, follow three simple principles: To look after themselves. To look after each other. To look after the Forest.
We believe in ‘meeting people where they are’, which means that we strive to be a setting for those who love getting knee deep in the mud and for those who shiver at the sight of an earthworm.
Our sessions don’t have any forced activities, so that we can join you in a ‘nature connection’ journey whatever stage you’re starting at.
Below is a typical day, which should be read alongside our Childcare Terms and Conditions for a full description of our services.
A TYPICAL DAY
No two days are the same in the forest! The child-led, play-based nature of our setting means that the children’s interests and imaginations lead our planning of activities. We often plan a day and then change all the plans in the moment when the group discover something, reveal an interest or mood! However, a typical day might look like this:
10.00: Children arrive. Welcome circle where we greet and check in with one another and remind the group of our three rules: Look After Yourself, Look After Each Other, Look After the Woods.
10:20 Exploration of the woodland and nature based activities. Here’s a few examples: bird spotting, bug hunting, raft building, garden designing and vegetable growing, tree and plant identification games; assisting with woodland maintenance such as coppicing or landscaping, or splitting firewood, fire lighting, woodwork, den building, play cooking in the mud kitchen, real cooking over the campfire. Plenty of free play.
11:30: Snacks around the campfire, with music making or games.
12:00: Free play and outdoor art and craft, pottery, painting; baking or continuing the morning’s interests.
12:40 Storytelling.
1:40 Tidy up and circle time with reflection and gratitudes. Plan next weeks session as a group. Get ready for home time.
We currently run two Home Ed sessions per week on a Thursday (10am-1pm and 1.45pm-3.45pm)
All new children start with a ‘taster’ if they have not attended any of our sessions before, then commit to attending weekly sessions for the duration of the block (usually 8-10 weeks). This allows for the group to bond and for our ethos of ‘long term provision’ to be met.
Fees include a campfire snack, refreshments and all craft materials.
In line with our ethos, we have high adult to child ratios - we like to keep groups small and we occasionally have a volunteer, parent helpers or Duke of Edinburgh student along too.
Our high adult to child ratios allow us to give time and attention to each child; talk with them about their interests and activities; allow children to experience and benefit from the activities we provide, especially those with beneficial risk involved such as tool use and fire lighting; and allow the children to explore and be adventurous in safety. Children with additional needs may require additional support. Please contact us to discuss this.
WHAT WILL MY CHILD NEED TO BRING / WEAR?
Children should come with a drink and a few snacks for the session. Cooking healthy snacks on the campfire is a regular activity. Clean drinking water is always available and children are provided with warm drinks in cold weather.
As well as a snacks and a drink, children will need to wear suitable outdoor clothing. This includes wellies, full waterproofs, and thermal layers, hats and gloves in cold weather; sun hats in warm weather. They will also need to bring spare clothes - getting wet and muddy is extremely likely! We are lucky to have a cosy yurt space for use on the coldest of days.
WEATHER
Our holistic learning ethos is all about play outdoors in all weathers. There is no such thing as bad weather: just bad clothing! We have plenty of shelters available to keep off the rain, as well as a yurt and any that the children choose to build!
However, there are certain weather conditions that will affect the running of our session:
High winds can be dangerous in woodland because of the dangers of falling branches and damage to shelters. We monitor the forecast and our site closely. Our site is fairly sheltered from Southerly and Easterly winds. We may need to close if winds are
Gusting 39mph from North or West
Gusting 45 mph from any direction
Electrical storms
Electrical storms can be dangerous in a woodland due to lack of indoor shelters and risk of electric shock from lightning, both direct and through tree roots. We follow the Rospa 30/30 rule: if there is a direct lightning strike within 30km of our site, we seek shelter in vehicles and stay in for at least 30 minutes after the last thunder clap. Staff have an app on our phones which alert us if there is a strike within 30km. If electrical storms persist, we may call parents and carers for early pick up.
Snow and ice
Our site may also close if snow and ice make the roads too dangerous for travel.
The staff will stay informed of the weather conditions via the Met Office Web Site. We will always try to give 24 hours notice of closure, however we may need to cancel on the day if weather changes suddenly / overnight. We will inform parents by text and email.
The staff will stay informed of the weather conditions via the Met Office Web Site. We will always try to give 24 hours notice, however we may need to cancel on the day if weather changes suddenly / overnight. We will inform parents by text and email.
POLICIES
We can explain and show you all our policies and many can be found on our website for parents to view, under ‘Policies’.
You are welcome to ask us any questions - please email hello@little-acorns.org
