Wilderness Wood is a 60 acre woodland; a home for two families and a rolling cast of volunteers; and a community of around 250 member families who help out and enjoy the woodland. It is not a school. And it’s not child-centred. It’s a woodland community for all ages to work and play - and that includes the children!

On a typical week, around 50 home educated and flexi-schooled children and teenagers come to the woods on different week days instead of school... They come to help out, do projects, make things, share knowledge and skills and have fun. And they learn a lot too - but that’s incidental.

Our measure of success is not whether we’ve achieved learning objectives but whether we’ve had a good day - adults, children, animals and the plants around us!

You can read Emily’s reflections on Wilderness Wood as an alternative to school on her blog:‘A Good Day’