What Is A CIC - What Is Forest School - Who Is Behind It
BushKraft is a Community Interest Company (CIC) is a type of social enterprise in the UK designed to use its profits and assets for the public good, focusing on benefiting the community rather than private shareholders, working with people of all ages and abilities. A CIC is usually formed from people with a passion to want to try and alleviate problems they have identified in their local area. We are no different. One of our skills is keeping families together and promoting well being, positive communication, positiveness and bonding as a unit rather than individuals.
We rely on donations and funding to be able to carry out our CIC mission. If you wish to donate, please feel free to contact us. Also some of our own fund raising activities like children's parties, archery sessions help fund other sessions. Although we do charge money for some of our activities, most are highly subsidised so that we can deliver.
Forest School is an educational approach that takes place in a natural outdoor setting, encouraging children to explore, learn, and develop through hands-on experiences with nature. It emphasizes child-led learning, where children engage in activities such as bush craft, wildlife observation, and environmental stewardship. This approach fosters personal growth, social skills, resilience, and a deeper connection to the environment. Forest Schools aim to promote holistic development by nurturing physical, emotional, social, and cognitive abilities in a supportive and natural setting.
Our mission is to inspire and nurture holistic development in children through hands-on learning experiences in a natural outdoor environment, fostering resilience, creativity, and a lifelong connection to nature. We aim to cultivate a sense of curiosity, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility, empowering children to grow with confidence and respect for the world around them, while encouraging less reliance on electronics and more engagement with the natural world.
IF you require structured standard outdoor learning we can also facilitate this as well.
We try to get every one to see their own potential and self worth, and build on it. Our forest activities are not limited to the woods, as use other venues and land.
Every child matters.....
Why BushKraft and who is behind it ?
Karen, Brian, Ricky and Joseph started up the forest school originally for several reasons. The main one was a school that knew us as cub scout leaders with many special needs children, wanted us to do forest school as part of their school curriculum. The other main reason was although we think the scout and guide movements are great, they can be very restricting on ages for each section. Just because someone is 8, they go to the next section, meaning a lot of the special needs children then left as was not ready to go up with the older children.
These two situations was our turning point to get the nationally recognised qualification and run it as a non profit rather than a money maker. Also as not driven by profit, we can concentrate on helping the community. Also as ex therapeutic foster carers, we work with referrals from schools to help keep families together and out of the care system. This is usually helping out the whole family on a 6 week course outdoors in neutral ground and through team building and helping with forms and sometimes supporting the families in meetings.
Working with schools and other organisations mean that children who may not get to do outside clubs etc get to experience a taste of what there is out side, rather than stuck in front of a tv or monitor. We have worked with families which are "in need". Being in the woodland is a calming environment and also neutral ground to help communications, cooking skills, team build etc.
We are all qualified Level 3 Forest school practitioners and some of us hold one or all of the below.
1st aid at work / Emergency Outdoor 1st aid / Forest school 1st aid. (All Staff)
Archery GB Instructor. (Karen and Brian)
Bush Craft Level 2 (Karen and Brian)
NSBRA Rifle Instructor (Brian and Joseph)
Ofcom BushKraft radio Club (Karen, Brian and Ricky)
Ready to find out if we can help you or your organisation?
Drop us a line today or give us a call to discuss further.