Meet the Team
Connecting children with the natural world
My name is Mandy Warwick. I trained as a Forest school leader at Hill End while I was working there. After running sessions for little ones there - Forest Fridays – I decided to set up the Hedgehog Club back in 2018. Whenever I spent time with the children and their families outside I always finished with a smile on my face and feeling excited about doing it all again the following week.
I am personally motivated by seeing the positive impact of outdoor learning on children and seeing the natural curiosity that young children have about the natural world. Now, more than ever, this natural curiosity needs to be nurtured so that our young people grow up wanting to protect the natural world around us. I hope this is what The Hedgehog Club does for all the children who attend our sessions.
From September 2022 I am moving more into the background of The Hedgehog Club and spending more time travelling round the country in my motor home. I will be running the holiday activities and the birthday parties but during term time I will be keeping tabs on the admin while my lovely team do all the fun stuff in the woods.
All staff are covered by my public liability insurance, they are DBS checked and have current outdoor first aid certificates and safeguarding training.
Hi, I'm Anna. I first came across forest school when my own children were preschoolers and we rapidly became Hedgehog Club devotees. I have since gone on to complete forest school training myself and have the level 3 forest school leader qualification, as well as the expected DBS, food hygiene, insurance and outdoor first aid certificates (alongside a medical qualification which keeps me busy on my non forest school days!). I love getting children and families outdoors, exploring, taking a few new risks and finding the wonder in nature and the boost to wellbeing it provides. I have led primary afterschool forest school clubs and family forest church sessions and I am really excited to be working with The Hedgehog Club.
The Holiday Clubs team vary from holiday to holiday, depending who is available. These are some of the lovely people who help out in the holidays.
Sarah – a teacher and qualified forest school leader. Her favourite animal is the dragonfly.
Kate – a teacher and qualified forest school leader. Her favourite tree is the elder and her favourite animal is the red kite.
Libby – a teacher and qualified forest school leader. Her favourite tree is the oak and her favourite animal is the fox.
Claire – a teaching assistant and forest school leader in training. Her favourite tree is the mighty oak and favourite animal is the woodpecker.
Thank you to Alexandra Tandy for the great photos used on this site.
Thanks to Aimee Stevens for the great logo featuring Marshmallow the Hedgehog.
Aimee.Stevens design- on FB and Instagram