Churchwood Forest School Alternative Provision

Aim: To develop and open an Alternative Provision for children who are struggling in the School system.

I am embarking on a new much needed project for children who are struggling in school.

School refusal or EBSA (Emotionally Based School Avoidance) rates are higher than they have ever been in Devon and the school system is completely flooded with children with SEMH and children who are just unable to learn in a classroom environment and it's really struggling.

Alternative provisions offer a regulated safe space for children to attend in very small numbers (max 10 a day), with a prescribed time table to suit each individual child's needs. The aim is to build their confidence so that they can either get back into the school system or be a stop gap whilst they wait for LA to come up with a suitable school place. I personally know over 10 families who are in the position of trying to juggle work, family life and a child who is refusing school. It's bloody hard work and is sending some parents off the edge. 

I want to help, so I am setting up an Alternative Provision (AP) for children to attend to help them build confidence with the help of different therapies and specialist practitioners to get back into the school system, or as a stop gap whilst they battle the very long local authority process to find a specialist school for them. 

My Son Dexter has been out of school since February due to his school not being able to meet his needs, the process to get him into a specialist school is very long and it really is a battle no parent should ever have to go through. 

Dexter reached his lowest point at the beginning of the year and lost all confidence. He is thankfully now attending (for the last 2 weeks) the most wonderful Alternative Provision 3 days a week and is thriving. 

It is a legal requirement that if a school can not meet needs they must provide an alternative education whilst the child and their family wait for a specialist school place or find a suitable way to get them back into school.

What can you do to help?

Of course the first answer to that is Please donate. However if this is not possible I would really appreciate it if you could share this Crowd Funder with anyone you think may either be:

• Interested in donating personally
• Has a business which might be interested in taking advantage of the tax break that the SEIS scheme provides. 
• Has any links in the media to help publicise my appeal

Much thanks in advance.

Hope to see you all soon.

Emma 

Will you help me share our woodland with children who need it most?

Eight years ago, I built and set up Churchwood Forest School. Starting with just 1 parent and toddler group and a few holiday sessions, I dreamed of being able to give every child the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature. 

After-school Club

In 2017 I completed my training as a Forest School Leader. I started running after-school club sessions for children from the local school in my garden. Forest School gets children outdoors, teaches them how to take risks safely and grows confidence. 

One of the parents of one of the children who attended was really impressed with how much his child’s confidence had grown>He offered me the opportunity to move to the woodland next to his holiday park. 

For 3 months I worked out where in the 30-acre wood was best to build the site, I started by building the fire circle area, built mud kitchens, put rope swings and hammocks up - all with no funding. I reused old pallets and scaffold planks and collected bits from charity shops and recycle centre shops. 

Bluebells

In September 2017, with my son Dexter now at school, I started running 'Bluebells' - a parent and toddler group in the woodland, named after the beautiful bluebells that blanket the forest floor in April.

Children, aged between one and four years, came each week with their parents. We went on scavenger hunts, created wild craft using natural materials such as pinecone bees or dream catchers made of willow and wool. They played in the hammocks and I provided a healthy snack for the children and a hot drink and cake for all the parents. 

After just one term, I already had a waiting list, so I started two more parent and toddler ‘Bluebell’ groups a week.

Our forest is a far cry from a stagnant indoor hall. Each week the children come back and there is something new for them to discover - new flowers; if it's sunny the bees might be buzzing; if it's raining, they enjoy collecting the water from the tarps. On arrival, the children run in with excitement, keen to know what adventure we are going on. When some children first start, they are apprehensive about getting dirty, they might struggle walking on uneven ground, or they just don't know how to play outdoors without piles of plastic noisy toys around them. My aim is to show children how magical the outdoors is so they then want to look after our awesome natural areas. Each week, following my demonstration using fun, child-appropriate instructions, two of the children light the fire - they grow up understanding how to be safe around it. We sing songs and read a story around the fire.

Forest Holiday Club

After a year of running Bluebells three days a week, I found many parents asking me for a provision that they could leave their children at. So that summer I started ‘Forest Holiday Club’ for 4-13 year olds. 

At Holiday Club, the children attend 10am-4pm, with sessions being totally child-led. This has offered some amazing developments to the site, such as two awesome den constructions, tree nets suspended above the ground, and a green woodworking area for children to develop their tool skills, which helps with fine motor skills and understanding of using tools safely.

I started by having eight children attend holiday club each day, led by myself and one other Forest Leader. As time went on, the demand for more holiday club days grew significantly. It became apparent that many children struggle to attend indoor holiday clubs or holiday clubs where there is a very rigid structure. Forest School is child-led and enables the children to take ownership of the forest, to love it and look after it. 

I now run Forest Holiday club every weekday during the school holidays. I employ six Forest Leaders and earlier this year I started a scheme for local teenagers to work as ‘big brother/sister’ roles. 

For the first seven years I did not take a wage from Forest School at all, committed to create the vision I had whilst putting every penny back into the business. As many of you know, two years ago I went through a very tricky divorce which led to my taking a regular minimum wage. I established Forest School as a Community Interest Company (CIC) to ensure that any profits we make are re-invested in this community and the woodland to which it belongs.

I am happy to say that Forest School is now financially self-sustaining, employing 15 part-time staff and myself full-time.

Future Growth – Forest School Alternative Provision

Having been approached by a number of parents whose children are really struggling in a traditional school environment, I next want to open up my site as an Alternative Provision (AP) for children who are unable to attend their school five days a week. The school system is overloaded with children who are ‘school-refusing’ for multiple different reasons. There is a huge and growing need for quality Alternative Provisions where children have a safe, Ofsted-registered setting that they can attend, typically for a few days a week. The aim of Alternative Provision is to build a child’s confidence levels up again so they can either slowly start attending mainstream school happily or can find and settle within an appropriate specialist school.

I know that what I have created is making a difference to so many children - and to their parents as well - and I am convinced that by developing an Alternative Provision site at Forest School that I will be able to help so many more. 

So why am I emailing you to tell you about this? 

Well, in order to be able to achieve my vision for Forest School Alternative Provision (FSAP) I need start-up funding. 

Specific funding will enable me to develop a new area of the woodland for our AP site. I plan to construct a timber roundhouse (c.£15,000), a kitchen area (c. £1000) and two disability-friendly toilets  (c.£1500) These are essential so that we can tick all the boxes that the government requires for me to register as an Alternative Provision. 

In order to deliver this preliminary part of the project, I will bring in two part-time, paid, team members to help me physically construct the site, whilst also undertaking the rigorous admin required to put in place all the paperwork needed to establish an AP, and to ensure that, once open, it can be fully funded by the government.

I anticipate that the development phase of the AP project will take six months, at which point we will be ready to welcome our first AP Forest School children.

In the longer term, the ongoing funding from government and local councils for each attending child will pay for the day to day running of the Alternative Provision. 

How much do I need?

For this six-month AP development project and build I anticipate needing to raise £100,000.

Did your mouth just drop open?!

I'm not expecting to reach this figure solely through personal donations.

I have applied to a number of large companies for a grant using SEIS, an incentive for large companies to help small businesses and in return getting tax relief.

I am also pursuing a number of local grant schemes that fund social impact businesses such as mine.

 And my third fundraising approach aims to secure financial support for this project from you, my local and personal community.  

 So I am writing to ask you to join me in the development of this exciting and valuable project by supporting this part of my fundraising with your financial support and by passing my appeal on to contacts you may have.

I'm so passionate about this and really hope you can feel this. Please do contact me for any further details that would be helpful. If you can contribute financially, in any way whatsoever, I would be so grateful.

Of course I would like to know who you are so that I can keep you informed about the ongoing achievement of this project, but if you would prefer to offer any funds anonymously I have also set up the following crowdfunder link:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/churchwood-forest-school-alternative-provision

If you have any questions, please call me on 07833133435 or drop me an email.

Thank you for managing to get to the end of this very long email. I really do appreciate your time. 

Kind Regards

Emma Draper

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 7th September 2025 at 3:36pm