Run by psychologists, teachers, trained SENCos, specialists in outdoor education and rehabilitation, and qualified bushcraft instructors, at the centre we aim to provide the opportunity for the young people we work with to have positive experiences and genuine successes.
We typically cater well for young people who are struggling to engage with learning and the school environment or young people with disability. We aim to offer learning and rehabilitation, but also to improve mental health and well-being through our structured programmes of learning.
Our practical activities promote skill development in relation to attention, problem-solving, and communication in the social setting. Hence we cater for young people with most levels of additional need. We cover a wide-ranging and complex area, so we welcome questions about the support we can offer.
We are committed to providing personalised learning and therapeutic opportunities for children and young people who attend the centre. When appropriate, we can offer activity and engagement programmes to support and augment this process. To ensure that we complement the young person's existing provision we work collaboratively with children and young people, family, teachers and specialists.
We offer a wide choice of activity-based programmes for children and young people working at a range of levels. We offer imaginative and flexible ways of optimising a young people’s knowledge and skills development. We design and implement ‘personalised learning plan’s setting out programmes to meet individual needs, interests and aspirations.
Our activities are tailored to clients needs
We teach young people how their natural environment can provide for them and meet their needs. Typically working with people aged 8 - 16, young people find that our activities are therapeutic.
Learn how to live off the land, build shelters, find food sources, craft tools from natural materials, basic survival skills, primitive cooking & woodworking.
Children can attend 1, 2 or 3 days each week from 10am-to-3pm, for 5 hours a day (but they do have to be booked-in for their chosen number of days for a whole term).
We promote Health & Wellbeing, Emotional & Social Intelligence and Flexible & Creative Thinkingthrough a range of bespoke activities including:
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Surf therapy in the warmer weather. We are just a few minutes from the beautiful beach of Sandymouth. We have an in-house qualified Surf Instructor and two qualified beach lifeguards on the staff-team- and of course we love to surf ourselves.
- Walks from our woodland to the beach through the woodland in Coombe Valley (we are located in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).
- Archery from a dedicated Archery range and professional instructors who teach our young people long-bow and crossbow skills.
- Woodwork and forestry tool-use.
- Science conservation and environmental studies we work with the Rivers Trust in conducting river surveys.
Our approach is evidence-based
A spiral curriculum design allows a logical pattern of skill-development from the simplistic and more supported, to the more complex and independent and group-driven process, with ongoing reinforcement and support where needed.
At a practical and learning level, the bushcraft & woodland programme covers a wide range of practical and applied bushcraft knowledge and skills including shelter building, fire lighting, animal/ wildlife awareness, woodland trees and plant ID, campfire cooking and cordage/ knots.
As psychologists as well as teachers, our real intention is to improve wellbeing, promote mental health recovery and help children to develop a greater sense of agency and resilience. Lots of children, especially those not attending school, feel socially isolated and have a very poor sense of personal and social identity. They don’t feel that they belong, or that they are good in a group. Years of research on group identity processes demonstrates that when children are given structured activity, with clear social roles, there are benefits for such children.
We use clinical measures of wellbeing and mental health to monitor improvements in the children who attend our courses. Our own preliminary research indicates that even after a short period of intervention there is measurable improvement for the children.
Get to know
The Team
We are passionate about the natural environment and improving peoples lives. We can offer a buy-out programme where the young person can attend our centre as part of their school week. To discuss a young person's needs and discuss how we can assist, please contact us.
Ben Edwards
Headteacher and Centre manager, Outdoor Education Specialist & Assistant Psychologist & Big Wave Surfer.
James Tonks
Paediatric Neuropsychologist, Clinical Psychologist, Qualified Teacher SENCo & NCFE Level 2 Qualified Bushcraft Instructor & Big Wave Surfer.
Kai Tonks
NCFE Level 2 Qualified Bushcraft Instructor, Qualified Beach Lifeguard & Big Wave Surfer.
Erin Jarvis
Speech & Language Therapist
Adele Bird
Music Therapist
Rachel Edwards
Specialist SEN Teacher, Beach-School Practitioner, Trauma Informed Schools Practitioner & Level 3 Counsellor
Pat LeGood
