Footprints in the Forest, Forest School, Ysgol Goedwig

Our teamWarm hearts, muddy boots

Footprints is small on purpose, so every child is known by name and every parent knows exactly who is looking after them. Meet Elle, and the kind, qualified grown-ups who will be beside your child in the woods.

Three forest school leaders in bright outdoor coats sit side by side on a log in the woods, laughing together over enamel mugs, with a small fire in a ring of stones in front of them, a kettle on the stones and their rucksacks at their feet.
A loose ink-and-wash sketch of Elle Peate, smiling, with her long hair down.
Elle

Meet Elle

Elle PeateFounder and forest school leader

Elle is a qualified teacher who has spent her working life helping children thrive. Forest school has always been her dream, and Footprints is where everything she has learned comes together.

She leads the sessions, knows every child by name, and is the person you talk to about anything at all, from wellies that leak to the big questions about how your child is growing.

Elle's qualifications

What Elle brings to the woods

Everyone who works with the children

Chosen with the same care you would take yourself. Before they look after your child, every one of them:

  • has an enhanced DBS check, including the children's barred list
  • comes through safer recruitment: two references, identity checked, and every gap in their work history asked about
  • is trained in safeguarding, and knows exactly what to do with a worry
  • holds paediatric first aid, renewed every three years
  • is Forest School trained, with every group led by someone qualified at Level 3
  • is someone you will already have met

Ask, and we will show you the certificates.

A dad and his small daughter in a yellow rain suit walk hand in hand along a woodland path under an oak, seen from behind, she pointing up at a robin on a branch, with big boot prints and small welly prints side by side behind them.

A welcome for every family

Whoever brings your child to the woods, a mum or a dad, a grandparent or a carer, is as welcome here as anyone: on the welcome walks, at parent and toddler mornings, at birthday parties and at the gate.

  • mums
  • dads
  • grans
  • grandads
  • two mums
  • two dads
  • one parent
  • stepfamilies
  • foster carers
  • adoptive families
  • kinship carers
  • aunties and uncles

and whoever else is in yours

Safe, every day

The small, steady habits that keep every child safe, at every session.

  • A wooden field gate at the edge of a wood, closed, with a lantern glowing on the gatepost and a robin on the top bar.

    Only the people you name

    Your child goes home only with the grown-ups you name, and each has a password word we agree with you.

  • A barn owl perched on a mossy oak branch, looking calmly out with big dark eyes.

    Never alone, never out of sight

    No grown-up is ever alone with a child out of sight of another, and help at the toilet tent comes from a leader you have met.

  • A smartphone lying face down on a patch of moss on the woodland floor, beside a pine cone, two pebbles and a twig.

    No faces, no names, anywhere public

    No picture of your child and no child's name ever appears online or in print.

    Why no social media

  • A small wooden keepsake box with a brass clasp, closed, on a mossy log, beside a candle glowing in a glass jam jar.

    Your details, kept private

    Contacts, allergies and everything else you share are kept in the Den, encrypted, and seen only by Elle.

    Inside the Den

You might be wondering

Who will look after my child?
Elle leads the sessions, with qualified forest school leaders beside her, every one of them checked, trained and someone you will already have met.
What experience does Elle have?
Fifteen years in Welsh classrooms, including as an assistant head teacher in Cardiff; outdoor play as her specialism; the highest Forest School and childcare qualifications; and years helping children with additional learning needs get the placements they need. She also founded Cultivate, an education consultancy that helps schools across Wales.
Can children with additional learning needs come?
Talk to Elle. She has spent years helping children with additional learning needs, and will always talk through what would help your child love the woods.
Will my child see the same faces each week?
Yes. Footprints is small on purpose: the same small group and the same wood, week after week, with grown-ups who know every child by name.
Can I meet the team first?
Yes. Before your child starts, you come on a welcome walk in the woods and meet the leaders who will look after them.
Who can collect my child?
Only the people you name, each with a password word we agree with you.

Every child, known by name.

Elle

Join the founding familiesOr write to Elle