Our groups are built to establish a strong sense of community and companionship on a weekly basis. We invite families that want to commit longterm to a supportive structure for their children.

Trial a day before committing to a season.

Shape of the Day

Circle Meetings happen at the beginning and end of each day. They offer children the practice of listening and speaking, negotiation, offering ideas, conflict resolution and many other facets to powerful communication.

We are a group of passionate and professional educationalists with many talents to integrate into our offerings to the community.

We work as Facilitators. We support the sovereignty of each child, and are here to offer boundaries and leadership only when needed. The rest of the time is for children to keep in tune with their own interests and passions. This is in contrast to the common idea that we need Teachers to deliver information that children have to reproduce for assessment at a prescribed time.

A Child Day might look like this:

Morning Circle Meeting - checking in with how we are feeling, creating a plan for the day.
Go for a walk off site into the back fields and footpaths
Lunch around the fire, cooking our own food for those that want to
Options to follow an activity on offer by the Facilitators, create an organised activity of your own, or free play together/in groups/solo, quiet time, request a story… options are almost limitless.
Afternoon Circle Meeting - checking in on dynamics of the day, requests for next session, feedback around anything that needs highlighting, songs, games.
Home - enriched and satisfied.

Settling in

We are here to establish security and safety for your child. Therefore we run at the pace of your child in settling into a new space with new faces. As a result, we discuss how long a parent needs to stay alongside us until the new member is fully ready to immerse safely. We generally find that within the first session, children are ready and happy to say goodbye to their parent, however we fully respect the variations in the needs of each individual child.

Communication with parents

Photographic logging

Facilitators take photographs of activities of the day. These are uploaded via a private and secure online group, where we share through pictures what the children have been doing on a weekly basis. We encourage parents and carers to use this as a means to keep channels of communication flowing with children so that they share what they want about their day. We respect the consent of each child around having photos taken in that moment, and likewise whether they want a specific situation shared with a parent/carer or not. Nevertheless, Facilitators maintain safeguarding at the forefront of any choices around sharing information with parents.

Facilitators

The team are always available to chat at the beginning and end of each day for a quick update on any relevant info.
Where there may be more in-depth discussion to be had, Facilitators are available to schedule a phone call or zoom. We actively encourage communication with parents, as this can create a more cohesive experience for each child. Conflict is a natural part of life, and a natural part of learning. As this often arises in play, it can be a very effective way to work through deeper issues. In many cases this is simply a processing tool for children. In other cases, things may need more exploration and support and this is where parental communication can be invaluable.

In person meetings

Family Hour is our quarterly get together at every season. We strongly encourage family members to attend these, which happen at the end of a Wednesday session around the equinoxes and solstices. This is an opportunity for each child to feel more integrated with home and Wildlings; showing parents what their space is like and perhaps showcasing something they have been working on. It enables parents to connect with other families and have some collective time in the woods.

Private Meetings are also available at Wildlings on Thursday mornings. These are for prospective families or current families to have some uninterrupted time to talk with our head Facilitator and/or Managing Director. Please contact us to book!

Pricing

ONE day per week attendance:
£540 per term / £180 pcm

TWO days per week attendance:
£1080 per term / £360 pcm

Siblings benefit from a 10% discount to the above rates.
Annual membership fee £40 per family.
Child Days run 48 weeks of the year.
We try to ensure that Wildlings is accessible to families of varying means.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss options.

Booking

Child Day bookings operate a little differently to all of our other offerings because it is important for us to take the time to ensure that we can meet the needs of each child that joins us. And it is equally important for each child to feel good about joining.
We welcome longterm commitments to our Child Day sessions. For this reason, we don’t offer drop-in sessions but have options to pay for your child’s place either monthly or quarterly. We run 48 weeks of the year, for continuity and a solid backbone to your child’s week, meeting the needs of their social and emotional well-being and development.

Child Days