About us
Little Acorns Forest Schools Ltd was founded by me, Dave Churchward, in late 2014. I moved back from Germany that Summer and was filled with a passion to start Forest School Stay and Play sessions for pre-school children at Moira Furnace. At the time, the sessions were run from the back of my car with bookings being written down from verbal conversations or through a Facebook message. Since then we have grown unbelievably but Stay and Play for pre-school children has always been at the very heart of what we do at Little Acorns Forest Schools Ltd. We always pride ourselves on the individual needs of the child when delivering our sessions. The sessions are always child-led, with a theme to work from, but not rigidly followed. Take up from local parents and carers enabled me to extend the provision and since then we are very proud of how Little Acorns has grown to provide Forest School programmes and sessions to a range of local schools and educational establishments across the Midlands in the United Kingdom.
SO WHAT HAS CHANGED NOW
Since those days in 2014 the company has grown so much and we are now able to deliver much more to the community. Not only do we provide high quality training for potential Forest School leaders in the Midlands and overseas but we deliver in school programmes and after school clubs for all ages, both in and out of school term times. As of 2024 we now deliver across 4 permanent sites – Hicks Lodge, Longhedge Lane, Seales Hollow and Donisthorpe CIC Land and the range of activities across these sites
includes:
1. Two thriving Home Education weekly groups, Acorns for ages 5 to 11 and Oaks for ages 12 to 16 and this is where learners are on site taking part in organised Forest School long term programmes. These sessions have a community feel and are split into age appropriate activities.
2. Tiny Acorns and Stay and Play sessions run weekly during the school term with Holiday Clubs, and Any Age Stay and Play sessions are always planned during holiday sessions so all the family can benefit from the outdoors. We also deliver monthly Family Acorns, where the whole family can come and enjoy the forest!
3. Long term Forest School programmes to many schools across the area, providing advice and woodland management to a more diverse range of schools locally and further afield. Our woodland management plans are particularly useful across the year for developing new sites or maintaining and improving current working sites within school grounds.
4. Birthday parties for all ages – from babies with play based sessions, to older parties (the oldest being a 40th Birthday party so far!) which have included tool use and fire making activities.
5. Corporate and school development training days on site – specialising in leadership and outdoor skills. This area is particularly useful for companies wishing to do some work with the local community or having a bespoke mindfulness and team building opportunity.
6. Little Acorns Forest Schools Ltd now provides Forest School Training internationally, from Level 1 to Level 3 Leader, with qualified and competent trainers with a wealth of first hand experience and knowledge. This last year has included training from Norway, across mainland Europe and Portugal and Cyprus.
7. First Aid training and delivery on a range of skills – Outdoor First Aid / Paediatric First Aid, Forestry Worker First Aid, Emergency and full First Aid at Work course. All of our courses are fully regulated and moderated in line with current First Aid at Work legislation.
8. Safeguarding and Mental Health courses are now available by our qualified and competent staff to bring the Forest School leader and educator up to date with their skills and knowledge.
THE FUTURE
As we continue to grow as a company, we are looking at “branching” out to deliver Bushcraft qualifications plus a train the trainer package which should bring us to the forefront of Forest School training and delivery across the UK. We are always humbled by our progress, our understanding and quality of delivery is always at the heart of what we do.
