My name is Jenny and I am a Level 3 Forest School Leader, an Approved Practitioner with The Therapeutic Forest trained to deliver their Woodcraft for Wellbeing Programme, and a Certified Outdoor Mental Health Practitioner through The Therapy Adventure organisation.  I have completed an Advanced Forest School and Outdoor Learning Certificate with The Outdoor Teacher and I am now studying for an MA in Education with a focus on outdoor education and forest school.

I have been working with children since 2012 as an Ofsted registered Childminder and now work at the local Primary School leading Forest School, outdoor learning and wellbeing sessions and have a strong interest in supporting social and emotional needs through the use of the outdoors.

This is a journey which has happened organically, I have always had an outdoor led approach and this formed the basis of my style as a childminder.  We spent as much time as possible outside using parks, local rural areas and accessing the University of Northampton’s forest school site.  Through my own children I had a link with the local nursery who were advocates of outdoor learning.  Their involvement with the BRIC project.org made me re-assess the space I was using at the time to try and use a public open space to help children build a connection with the land directly on their doorstep.  One where they could attend sessions with me and then come back at the weekend with their families.   

I found a site owned by the charity Sustrans very local to me and gained permission to use the area before receiving funding for my Level 3 Forest School Leader training.  It was suggested that I encourage others to come along as my own group size as a childminder was very small and it all snowballed from there.  Being a Nature Noodle had just started!  Soon a further group called the Friday Foxes was put in place along with other ad hoc sessions and outdoor events.

I am forever grateful for all the wonderful children, families, practitioners and volunteers who I have met along the way.

During this time I also began volunteering at my local primary school holding Outdoor Classroom events and forest school sessions.  Whilst I was sad to resign from childminding I wanted to offer these outdoor opportunities to more children who might not otherwise receive them.  I began working at the school in September 2019 and I am now there full time term time.  Nature Noodles has taken a new collaborative direction supporting other practitioners and helping to facilitate their sessions but also coming together to run hoc sessions which are advertised both here and on the Nature Noodles Facebook group page.

Moving forward there are plans to set up a Nature Noodles CIC and during the school holidays sessions for families and adults will be running at a number of sites located in North Northampton.   Nature Noodles also runs summer sessions for Daventry Town Council.   More details of these can be found on the Facebook Group Page Nature Noodles.

I am currently focusing on my research for my dissertation, looking at whether forest school has an impact or effect within the classroom, discussing the use and benefits of this informal learning within the more formal classroom.  I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Jenny x