I’m delighted to share Spring 2025 Insight from the Goodwood Education Trust, attaching our summer newsletter. Please do share with your local community – the more people who know about us, the more children and young people we can connect with the natural environment and sustainable agriculture. It’s been another incredibly busy and fulfilling term, and highlights of our programmes include:

Farm Visits

835 children visiting the farm - of those, over 25% were eligible for Free School Meals

525 of those children were on a free trip which serves the most disadvantaged schools across our area - of those 525, 49% were eligible for Free School Meals.

We’re very proud to announce we’ve been nationally recognised with our Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge.

We’re co-hosting Open Farm Sunday this summer, working closely with the Farm and the Farm Shop. It’s a free day for the community, and we’re askingpeople to register so we can safely manage visitor numbers.

Forest School

We’ve run 65 sessions this term, and welcomed a 6^th weekly Forest School group last term, for children struggling to engage in mainstream schooling. To accommodate this, we were thrilled to start using our brand new shelter, which is making an amazing difference to the outside work we can do, all year round. 

Children in the Community – for children who need a nature-nurture.

We’ve welcomed several local community groups to the woods this spring, offering a funded woodland activity day for children who may face barriers to spending time in nature. These have included Looked After Children, children with Down’s Syndrome, teenagers struggling with anxiety and mental health, and children with a life-limiting or terminal condition). These are all in partnership with local charities and support groups.

We are again running our popular summer holiday Forest Adventures, for primary-age explorers. You can book these here now. We’ve bid to be a Provider for the HAF programme (Holiday, Activity and Food) for children eligible for means-tested Free School Meals, and hope to be able to offer primary and secondary places in August.

We’ve had a lot of visitors to the Education Centre, who have all gone away hugely impressed by the engagement with the children and the inclusive approach shown by the team. To make talking about us really easy, I’ve put an introductory paragraph below. You can find me on LinkedIn, and the Trust is on Instagram and Facebook.

With best wishes, and thank you for your continued support.

Catherine

INTRODUCTION TO THE TRUST

We’re an independent environmental education charity (Charity Commission CIO 1198212). Our purpose is to inspire a love and understanding of the natural environment and sustainable agriculture. We work to connect children and young people with nature, particularly those who are disadvantaged or vulnerable. We were established in 1976 by the 10^th Duke, so we’re almost 50 years old.

We work with all children and have a particular interest and growing expertise with children and young people who have Special Educational Needs, Social Emotional and Mental Health Needs, who have experienced trauma, who are Young Carers, who are eligible for Free School Meals or who are excluded from mainstream schooling. To reach those with the highest level of need, we’ve established local partnerships with those who work with disadvantaged children. We have funding available to support schools in areas of disadvantage, offering free farm visits and support with coach travel, which we know is a significant barrier.

We work broadly across West Sussex and East Hampshire (including Portsmouth and Gosport). We offer three programmes:

·       Farm Visits for Schools, including free visits for disadvantaged schools

·       Woodland learning, including weekly Forest School for vulnerable students, including those in Alternative Provision or Special Schools.

·       Children in the Community, woodland activities, including partnerships with local charities and Forest Adventures through school holidays, particularly for those on low incomes.

We’ve a stunning Education Centre which is purpose-built, accessible and sustainable, on the Farm, nestled in 20 acres of semi-ancient woodland, which is exclusively ours for education use. We’ve a nature trail and inspirational outdoor learning spaces, and we’re always looking out for groups to welcome to the woods.