An outdoor learning facility based near Bromyard is set to help scores of students when it officially opens later this year.
The Houghton Forest School, which is located in woodland between Bodenham and Pencombe, offers people of all ages with learning difficulties the chance to have a go at the school’s ‘learning by doing’ curriculum.
It’s called Kinesthetic learning and it adopts a teaching and learning style in which learning takes place by the student by actually taking part in a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations.
Students who benefit from this style of learning generally have realisations through doing, as the school’s founder Belinda Scadding explained.
She said: “Essentially it’s for Kinesthetic learners, that’s the main people we are aiming at.
“The school will offer the learning disabled, local schools, the home-educated and young carers a chance to experience the natural environment, with interactive learning games and green woodworking as part of the agenda.
“We play lots of games with the kids and we do lots of great things working with them.”
Belinda hopes to have the school, which is equidistant from Leominster, Bromyard and Hereford, ‘fully operational’ by late August although it has already proved a hit with a number of local schools, whose pupils have thrived in the challenges posed in their enchanting woodland setting.
“We’ve just applied for a grant and I’m waiting to see if we are successful,” added Belinda who was inspired to set up the school after witnessing first hand the work of a similar learning facility in Wales.
Belinda hopes that grant money will prove a springboard for other fundraising efforts as the school begins to gain momentum and, after a successful publicity campaign, Belinda is also hopeful that volunteers will start to come forward to help.
She has experience of working with adults and children with learning difficulties at the nearby Haughton Project, an educational service based on a nearby farm which provides a number of agricultural and horticultural activities helping to enhance education for sufferers and also to promote awareness of sustainability, conservation and wildlife.
