Bristol Forest School

BFS has a number of STAFF and VOLUNTEERS who assist in running our forest school sessions, planning activities and preparing resources. All BFS staff who lead sessions alone are fully Forest School qualified, DBS checked, First Aid trained and they hold Public Liability Insurance. They include… ANDY WILSON founded Bristol Forest School in 2004. He trained with the original Forest School cohort from Bridgwater College, and has a wealth of experience from 18 years forest school teaching. Andy runs regular Forest School sessions and parties at both the BFS woodland and in schools throughout Bristol. He also runs Forest School staff training. As Woodland Manager, Andy has successfully transformed the BFS site into a beautiful and accessible educational space; he monitors our ecological footprint through an environmentally sustainable attitude to Our Woodland. SOPHIE BUTLER joined Andy in 2011 and together they expanded Bristol Forest School. She is a trained Early Years teacher and qualified as a Level Three Forest School Leader in 2012. Sophie’s passion for nature and sustainability has grown over the years since living off-grid in an eco village in Hawaii. Sophie established the BFS Pre-Schools, the Saturday Club Minis and Adventurers. She now supports the running of these groups and is responsible for BFS’s policies, website and social media. HANNAH BUSHELL joined the BFS staff team in 2015 following a dedicated volunteering stint and completing her Level Three Forest School. Hannah is an experienced primary school teacher who works part-time in a Steiner Kindergarten as well as undertaking the nature connection course ‘Call of the Wild’. Hannah runs our specialist CCS days for adopted children and their families. To contact Hannah, please email hannah@bristolforestschool.co.uk. LUCY ROSE HARRIS is a qualified primary school teacher with six years teaching experience. Lucy gained her Forest School Level 3 Award in 2014 and is passionate about promoting outdoor learning opportunities, a love of nature and fun adventures for children. Lucy joined Bristol Forest School in 2017 and, following some maternity time with baby Luna, she is now back in our Pre-School team. LOUISE SPELLWARD is a qualified Horticulturalist and garden designer with a background in Environmental Conservation. Her first experience of Bristol Forest School was as a parent attending with her son; not wanting to miss out on the fun, she decided to train in Forest School herself and completed her Level 3. In 2019 Lou took on the Bristol Forest School Pre-School. To contact her, email lou@bristolforestschool.co.uk KATE BERRY is an art educator with 16 years’ experience delivering workshops in natural history, conservation, poetry, story creation, art, design and photography. She is passionate about outdoor education and wildlife conservation. Kate has worked at Bristol Forest School since 2016 and has a Level 3 Forest School qualification. In 2019 Kate began leading the Saturday Minis with Lou and Melissa. To contact her, email kate@bristolforestschool.co.uk VERONIKA SIMON studied agricultural engineering before working as a special needs teacher for primary school children with EBD as well as in a nursery for Pre-School children. Veronika enjoys sharing her passion for nature and animals and can often be found in her allotment digging or watching the bees! Veronika became a qualified Forest School leader in 2018; she started volunteering with Bristol Forest School in 2020 and now runs schools sessions and BFS parties. BESS SPENCER worked as an ‘Access to Nature’ play-worker in inner city London and trained as a Forest School leader in 2018. She now practices and teaches co-counselling and nature-facilitation activities using Tom Brown’s Apache derived techniques. At Bristol Forest School, Bess assists with our school sessions. MELISSA GAULT is a qualified Level 3 Forest School Leader and is currently studying to become an Early Years educator. She loves getting out into nature as much as possible! Melissa has been supporting Bristol Forest School since January 2018. She began as a volunteer for the Saturday Minis and is now a fully fledged member of the Pre-School team. MILLY BAILEY has an environmental background – she moved from working in an office as an environmental consultant, to the forest – which she much prefers. Milly has a passion for connecting herself and others to the natural world: she is a keen hiker, forager and wild swimmer. Milly started volunteering with Bristol Forest School in 2019 and now works as part of the Pre-School team.