Full Name:…Sarah Elizabeth Lawfull
Organisation/Freelance:……Where The Fruit Is – Social Enterprise Registered as a Limited Company- Director
(If you are involved with any organisation – please state the name of the organisation and position held).
Sector Experience/Skills (please rate, with X, each from 0 to 3: 0 = no experience, 1 = general background/ experience, 2 = Strong relevant experience, 3 = direct relevant experience):
| Sector Experience | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||
| Early Years Forest School | x | ||||||||
| Primary Years Forest School | x | ||||||||
| Secondary Years Forest School | x | ||||||||
| Special Needs Forest School | x | ||||||||
| Play Sector | x | ||||||||
| Environmental Organisations involvement with Forest School | x | ||||||||
| County Council Forest School | x | ||||||||
| Academic Research for Forest School/Higher Education | x | ||||||||
| Outdoor learning | x | ||||||||
| Forest/Woodland management | x | ||||||||
| Forest School Training | x | ||||||||
| Other (please specify) Primary School Teaching | x | ||||||||
| Skills | |||||||||
| Media/Communications including social media | x | ||||||||
| Business/Marketing | x | ||||||||
| Fundraising | x | ||||||||
| Events | x | ||||||||
| Public Speaking | x | ||||||||
| Other (please specify) Building connections and partnerships | x | ||||||||
Election of directors of FSA: 2018
Please indicate which role you would like to apply – job descriptions for the Treasurer and Company Secretary are attached.
Please tell us a bit about yourself (max 500 words), including;
Why you are standing for FSA directorship?
- Having witnessed at first hand the transformative power of Forest School in the lives of the children, families and colleagues I worked with I was determined to share it with the rest of Oxfordshire. A secondment to the Forest School Service gave me the chance to fully commit my attention to developing my own skills and promote Forest School locally. I have valued being a part of the evolution of the Forest School community since the inception of the IOL SIG, taking an active role within the GBFSTN working towards a quality assurance process, becoming one of the first endorsed trainers and latterly have been part of the working group writing the new qualifications. In the last 6 months I have left Oxfordshire County Council to set up a social enterprise ‘Where The Fruit Is’ with the vision to engage, enable and equip educators, vulnerable teenagers and disenfranchised families through inspirational training in the outdoors.
We will be making income through training (Forest School, Well Being, Staff Team Building and Outdoor Learning), coaching and consultancy which will enable us, in part, to fund the work we do with single parents, disadvantaged families and vulnerable, isolated, young people, many with ASD.
Your Forest School experience (and this is not necessarily a pre requisite but you will need to have some basic working knowledge of Forest School)
- I ran Forest School for a couple of years in my own school, for the whole Foundation Stage, where I was an early years teacher, prior to being seconded to the County Forest School team. For the last ten years I have been running Forest School programmes, training adults to be Forest School Leaders and assistants, I have supported schools with developing their school grounds alongside equipping their staff to take learning outside. Working in an outdoor education centre for several years I have relished working with a wide range of clients, including disabled adults, vulnerable teenagers, family centre groups teachers and school groups. I have witnessed first hand the power of full year long programmes to change thinking, behaviour, and learning in adults and children.
- I am passionate about making Forest School training inclusive and transformative. To this end I am developing a range of training models, seeking to respond to the needs of different client groups in an increasingly austere climate whilst maintaining the integrity and rigour of the new OCNWM suite of qualifications. Our very first course is running for 12 Saturdays, one per month for a whole year. Another modular course is running in two day chunks, through several school holidays. Both courses reduce the cost to schools whilst requiring teachers/ practitioners to show commitment by attending training out of work hours.
How you personally can benefit the FSA.
- I am a passionate, dedicated educator and promoter of the FSA with a wide network of contacts. Studying for a Level 7 Professional Certificate In Coaching at Henley Business School to develop my skills in mentoring Forest School trainees, leaders and trainers, locally and nationally.
Please declare any special interests or affiliations with other organisations in the Forest School sector including commercial, public sector or voluntary.
- I am working in partnership with Sylva Foundation and planning with Berkeley Reafforestation Trust and Nicholson’s Nursery ways to support Forest School in Oxfordshire. I am training with OCNWM to be an EQA.
