Boots & Brambles Forest School

🌿✨ LAST FEW SPACES REMAINING! ✨🌿

Looking for a holiday club where children can just be children? 💚

Swap screens for trees 🌳, fresh air 🌞 and adventure around every corner!

At our Boots & Brambles Forest School Holiday Clubs, your child can:

🏕️ Build dens
🌳 Climb trees
🛠️ Learn to use real tools
😌 Relax in hammocks
🔥 Cook over the campfire (weather permitting - no campfires in extreme heat!!)
🐞 Explore nature
🌿 Make new friends and unforgettable memories!

Our unique holiday clubs are held in our beautiful woodland site in Tollerton, where every day is packed with outdoor fun, creativity and adventure. 🍃

⏳ We only have a few spaces left, so if you've been thinking about booking, now's the time!

Tuesday 4th August 2026
Tuesday 11th August 2026
Wednesday 12th August 2026
Tuesday 18th August 2026
Wednesday 19th August 2026

All Holiday Club Days run from 10am - 3pm and are suitable for children aged 6+

📲 Book your child's woodland adventure today before they're gone! 🌲🥾💚

💻 Book via our website www.bootsandbrambles.com

📍St Peter's Church Centre Woodland, Tollerton Lane, Tollerton, NG12 4FT

🌿 "What age are your Family Holiday Sessions for?" 🤔
🌳 "Is my child too old?" "Is my child too young?"
These are some of the questions we're asked most often... and our answer is always the same...

✨ There is NO upper or lower age limit! ✨
Why? Because we believe that playing, exploring and creating in nature has no age limit. 💚🍃

👶 Babes in arms
🧒 Preschoolers
🧑 School-aged children
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 And yes... grown-ups too!

Our Family Sessions are designed so everyone can get involved. There's no pressure, no worksheets, no "right" way to do things. Everything is child-led, with lots of open-ended activities that children can enjoy in their own unique way. 🌿✨

🏴‍☠️ A Pirate's Life for Me is packed with adventure!
⚓ Make a pirate hat
🗺️ Create a treasure map
💰 Dig for buried treasure
🚢 Build a pirate ship
🍲 Whip up a feast in the ship's galley
☠️ Thursday 6th August 10.30-12
☠️ Monday 10th August 10.30-12

☀️ Our Summer in the Woods Family Session is another wonderful opportunity to slow down and enjoy nature together. We'll be:
🌼 Exploring the woodland in summer
🎨 Making beautiful summer nature prints
🛠️ Using real tools
🌿 Creating, discovering and following wherever your imagination takes you!
🌼 Monday 17th August 10.30-12

All of our Family Sessions offer opportunities to:
🌳 Explore the woodland
😴 Relax in a hammock
🤸 Balance on the slackline
🫧 Make GIANT bubbles...
(And let's be honest... we often spot the grown-ups having just as much fun as the children! 🤭💚)

Because that's the magic of Forest School... one activity can become a hundred different adventures. 🌳💚

⏳ Limited spaces are still available, so if you're looking for a family activity that's full of fresh air, creativity and woodland magic, we'd love to welcome you! 🍃🥾
Who's joining us this summer? ☀️🌿

Book via our website www.bootsandbrambles.com

🌿✨ Well... that's a wrap on our 2025–2026 Forest School term-time sessions! ✨🌿
What an incredible year it's been! 💚🌳

A huge THANK YOU to:
🍃 Bunny C of E Primary School and Cotgrave C of E Primary School for welcoming us into your schools to deliver Forest School sessions and after-school clubs.

🌲 Tollerton Primary School for spending your Transition Day exploring the woods with us.

🌳Our unique SEMH Forest School Intervention, delivered in partnership with the Rushcliffe Primary Partnership, has continued every Wednesday and Thursday throughout the year. We've loved welcoming children and staff from primary schools across Rushcliffe into the woods to learn, grow and thrive together. 🌱💚

🌳This year also marked an exciting milestone as we launched our very first secondary school SEMH sessions! 🎉 A massive thank you to South Wolds Academy and Toot Hill School for joining us in the woods this year—we can't wait to welcome you back in September! 🌳🍂

🌳Another proud achievement this year was becoming an approved Nottinghamshire County Council Alternative Provision after months of hard work. ⭐ We're so grateful to have welcomed our very first Alternative Provision cohorts into the woods, and we can't wait to continue growing this part of Boots & Brambles.

As another academic year comes to an end, we'd like to say a heartfelt thank you to every child, teacher, support staff member and family who has been part of our journey this year. ❤️

Summer is a time for change, new adventures and challenges ☀️🦋 We hope you'll always remember your time in the woods and carry a little piece of the forest—and everything you discovered about yourself—with you wherever life takes you. 🌿✨

To those moving on, we wish you every success in your next adventure. To those returning, we'll see you on the other side for even more woodland adventures! 🍂🔥🌲

Boots & Brambles Forest School 2025–2026… it's been an absolute blast! 💚🥾🌳
Have an amazing summer everyone! ☀️🌼🌈

🌳Weekends are for the woods! Join us this Saturday 25th September 10-12 when we will be getting outdoors again for our monthly morning of seasonal crafts, hot chocolate, play and support.💚

💚These woodland activities are for bereaved family members of all ages; for children whose brother or sister has died, some who knew their sibling well, others who may have been born after the loss in the family, or may not yet know...💚

💚These sessions are for others too; cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends - with chance to come along and be together outside in a space where there's no pressure to talk, but where everyone there has been through or is going through a similar situation.💚

There are books and grief resources available, there's always someone from Zephyr’s there to chat to or share how you're doing and you can find out about our other services too.

Run by us here at Boots & Brambles Forest School and the wonderful local charity Zephyr's this wonderful collaboration has been running for over a year and a half. You can come along as and when you're able, or every time, it's up to you. There's always something new to do as well as the familiar toys and our woods to explore too.

Free to attend for anyone bereaved through pregnancy loss or the death of a baby or child

https://www.bootsandbrambles.com/products/into-the-woods-with-zephyrs/

Just WOW! 🌿💚 What a way to end a year of our SEMH Intervention programme! 🥹✨
This is the true beauty of Forest School. 🌳🍃

It isn't just about building fires, using tools or identifying plants (although our children have become brilliant at all of those! 🔥🪵🔨🌱). It's about giving children the freedom to lead, discover who they are, build confidence, find their voice and realise they're capable of so much more than they ever imagined. 💚

Over the past year, our children have spent one day a week in the woods with us, whatever the weather - from weeks of torrential rain 🌧️ to blazing sunshine ☀️ (definitely our most weather-challenging year yet!).
They've learned practical skills like safe tool use 🪓, fire lighting 🔥, flora and fauna identification 🌿 and knot tying 🪢.
But more importantly, they've grown in ways that can't be taught in a classroom..
💪 Resilience 🌟 Confidence
🤝 Communication ❤️ Self-esteem
🎯 Determination 🌱 Perseverance
✨ The courage to step outside their comfort zones.

For their final session, we handed over the reins and asked them one simple question...
"What would you like to do?"
Their answer? Build a village! 🏡😂

The original plans looked more like a city (complete with a post office, restaurant, school and even a bomb disposal area! 🤣), so together we evaluated what was actually possible before they split into teams, planned resources, assigned roles and got to work.

And wow...what they created was incredible! 🤩

🏰 A security checkpoint with bag searches, body scanners and even a jail!
🐴 Stables complete with horses, an arena and jumps.
🏥 A hospital with a waiting room, equipment and a very busy doctor!
☕ A café serving real foraged snacks and hot drinks for visiting adults.
🎓 A school where visitors made graduation hats, painted rocks and added memories to our Forest School board.
🪵 A tool workshop where everyone crafted their own woodland souvenir.

Every single area reflected the personalities, interests and strengths of the children who created it. ❤️

The day wasn't about us directing activities.
It wasn't about worksheets.
It wasn't about ticking boxes.
It was children leading their own learning. 🌳
Children collaborating. 🤝
Children solving problems. 💡
Children supporting one another. 💚
Children feeling proud of themselves. 🌟

That is Forest School at its absolute best.
Watching them play together in the village they had imagined and created, alongside adults who became just as immersed, was incredibly special. To then be able to share it all with parents and carers made it the perfect ending to an unforgettable year.

We couldn't be prouder of every single one of them. 💚🌿

Here's to muddy boots, smoky clothes, big imaginations and children who now know just how capable they really are. 🌳✨🍃

🌿✨ This week we celebrated our Forest School Graduation. ✨🌿
For the children who have spent one day a week with us, it wasn't about grades, scores or targets. It was about them. ❤️
Each child received a personalised certificate highlighting three things we'd noticed about them over the year. Not things they'd been tested on, but the qualities that make them who they are. 🌱 Their kindness. 💚 Their resilience. 🌟 Their curiosity. 🦋 Their creativity. 🎨 Their courage. 💪

As we read each certificate aloud in front of parents and carers, the smiles said it all. 😁 Proud faces, happy tears and children who felt truly seen. 🥹

As a former teacher, I always found end-of-year reports difficult. Trying to fit every child onto the same scale. Reducing wonderfully unique individuals to whether they were "working towards", "expected" or "greater depth". 📊 Comparing children against a national benchmark rather than celebrating who they are because the powers that be require you to do so.

At Forest School, every report I write is different because every child is different. 🌳 Every certificate is personal. We look at the whole child. We notice the small moments that reveal character, confidence and growth. 🌿 We celebrate progress that can't always be measured on a spreadsheet. 📋

The contrast felt especially poignant today.
After months of SATs preparation, revision and test after test, my own 11-year-old came home clutching a piece of paper that reduced an entire year—perhaps even her whole primary school journey—to just three words: "working towards", "expected" or "greater depth". 💔 A piece of paper that automatically had her comparing herself to others.

Those words may serve a purpose in the education system, but they don't define a child.

They don't capture the child who comforts a friend without being asked. 🤝 The one who perseveres until they master a new skill. 🌱 The one who asks thoughtful questions. ❓ Shows empathy. ❤️ Takes risks. 🌿 Solves problems. 🧩 Or makes others laugh. 😊

Children are so much more than data. 📈❌
Today reminded me why Forest School matters so deeply. 🌲 Because every child deserves to be recognised not just for what they can achieve on a test, but for who they are becoming. ✨

💚 Let's celebrate the whole child. 🌳🍃

💚 Behind every family business is... well... an even bigger family! 💚

They say it takes a village to raise a child...
We're pretty sure it takes an entire army to raise three children, keep up with their ever-growing social calendars, run a business AND spend a whole weekend running activities at a Steam Fayre! 😂🙈

So this is a little appreciation post for the people who quietly make weekends like this possible...

💚 A huge thank you to our friends for being chief taxi service and social secretary for our biggest Wildling! We honestly couldn't have kept all the plates spinning without you.

💚 To Nana and Grandad... thank you for helping run the stall, entertaining the littlest Wildlings, stepping in whenever we needed you and generally being absolute legends. ❤️
To Auntie Jackie - thanks so much for the surprise visit!

💚 And to our own Wildlings... thank you. ❤️
Being the children of self-employed parents isn't always easy. It means early starts, long days, waiting around while Mum and Dad work and sharing your weekends with lots of other families.

Yet you've smiled, helped out, entertained yourselves, been patient, and made us so incredibly proud. Watching you all chatting to customers, joining in, and looking after each other reminds us why we do this. 🌿

People often see the finished stall, the activities, and the busy event... but behind it all is a whole team of family and friends giving up their own time to help make it happen.
To every single one of you... thank you. We really couldn't do this without you. ❤️🌿

🚂🔥 Rempstone Steam Fayre 2026... WOW! What a weekend! 🔥🚂 Rempstone Steam & Country Show

Where do we even begin?! 🤩
This weekend has had absolutely EVERYTHING...

🎨 Children's activities
🚁 Helicopter flights
🚛 Monster truck rides
⚽ An England win!
👽 ET making an appearance
🎩 Amazing magicians
🤹 Circus skills
🎶 Fantastic live music
🚂 And, of course, magnificent steam engines!

It's been non-stop from start to finish, and we've loved every minute of it! ❤️

But our favourite moment? It has to be when the crowds start to thin, the day begins to wind down, everyone's feet are aching 😅 and we finally get to sit together as a family with a well-earned cold drink in hand. 🥤🌅 Watching the sun set while the steam engines glow against the evening sky... it's one of those moments that reminds you why weekends like this are so special. ❤️🚂✨

A massive thank you to everyone at Rempstone Steam Fayre for having us back again. We always have the best time and feel so lucky to be part of such an incredible event. And a massive thank you to our awesome family and friends for all their help!

And to every single family who came to see us, got stuck into our activities, stopped for a chat or came back to say hello... thank you. Your smiles, laughter and support mean the world to our little family business. 💚

Now... who else needs a lie-in? 😂🙋‍♀️
See you next year, Rempstone! 🚂💚✨

✨ One of the biggest reasons I left teaching was seeing creativity squeezed out by time pressures and the need to tick boxes.

I'll never forget DT lessons where I'd show a WAGOLL of a Tudor house... only to end up with 30 near-identical Tudor houses. 🏠

Or when children designed their own Egyptian shadufs, but we all had to make the same child's design because there wasn't enough time. ⏱️

One child's question has stayed with me for 12 years:
💭 "Why did we do our own designs if we were all going to make X's?"

Then there were the frantic lessons where we'd run out of time, and my TA and I would have children queuing while we did all the glue gunning. 🔫 The very part that children would have loved most... the part full of problem-solving, risk-taking, resilience and pride... taken away because we'd run out of time.

Fast forward to today... 🌿💚
At Forest School, we read Not a Stick 📖 and simply invited 60 children to create something using a stick and a selection of resources.

The results? 🤩

🪄 Wands
⚔️ Swords
🎣 Fishing rods
🧶 God's Eye weavings
💡 Light sabres
🍭 Lollipops
🌳 Stick people
🪷 A Toy Story lily pad
🧠 A mind-reading sword
..and so much more!

Not one creation was the same. No templates. No "right answer". Just imagination, creativity and children being children. ❤️

Sometimes all a child needs is a stick... and the freedom to decide what it can become. 🌿✨