About Develop Outdoors

Organisation

Years

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Courses

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Learners

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Our Mission

Our mission is to inspire children, young people, and the local community through innovative education and engaging activities.

By collaborating with local partners and stakeholders, we address unique community needs, fostering growth, inclusion, and positive change.

Together, we strive to build a vibrant, sustainable, and connected community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Our Vision

‘Creating opportunities for all, building hopeful tomorrows for everyone’
Our Vision, Our Goal.

Develop Outdoors is passionate and determined to make a lasting impact on how people become better versions of themselves and achieve success.

Our vision is to build a thriving holistic community space that nurtures education, well-being, health and inclusivity—providing accessible services tailored to local community needs.

Together, we’re creating opportunities for all, building hopeful tomorrows for everyone.

What We Do

Community

We offer a range of community-based services to combat loneliness and isolation, helping individuals discover and learn new skills.

We work with young people, encouraging them to explore the green spaces around them and engage with the outdoors.

Throughout the year, we provide holiday and after-school clubs for children aged 5-14 years. These include Forest School, Crafty Creators (Art Club), and Dice (Games) Club.

We are also excited to be expanding our Community Provision by reaching out to the elderly and adult community to offer health and well-being activities.

Education

We deliver and support nurturing education and personal development opportunities for children, young people, and families.

Our programmes support small groups of primary (Forest School Provision) and secondary students throughout the academic year.

Additionally, we create bespoke 1:1 personalised learning programmes for young people, including post-16 individuals, to help them progress towards further education or employment.

Our Partners

We have partnerships and links with a range of local authorities, organisations and businesses.

Interested in partnering with us? Please get in touch:

We have a partnership for work opportunities with DC Roofing & Construction

Testimonials

Education is not for everyone!

In Focus: Two Parents' Experiences With Develop Outdoors

Parent 1

Parent 2

Our daughter is in Year 9 with ASC and ADHD and has attended Develop Outdoors for 9 months as a 2-day-a-week alternative provision from her secondary school.

She is on the Room 2 Bloom course and she absolutely loves it! She really enjoys the variety of different activities they do, including an introduction to bushcraft, budgeting and cooking a meal, designing and making a bird feeder and learning about first aid and CPR. Every session is different and the small group setting with a low-demand, non-pressurised approach to learning is perfect for her. Functional Maths and English skills are also covered.

She feels really understood, nurtured and liked by the staff there, and we really appreciate the time and effort they take to make her feel as though her contribution is really valued. As a young person who experiences high anxiety and is reluctant to leave her room at times, it is fantastic to see her getting up and ready early each day, keen to be on time and to know she will either be out in the community or doing Forest School outdoor activities with other young people.

In addition, she was recently delighted to be presented with a folder full of AQA Unit Award scheme certificates that she has successfully completed in her time at Develop Outdoors. This was a huge boost to her self-confidence and self-esteem and the certificates evidence the huge breadth of learning covered throughout the year.

She has benefitted so much from her time at Develop Outdoors and has decided to continue on to the ‘Life Course’ for KS4. We are delighted to have found a setting so well-suited to our daughter’s needs and would recommend them without hesitation.

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Develop Outdoors.

Our daughter arrived as a frightened Year 8 student following a very challenging experience in mainstream education during Year 7. Due to her AuDHD, we made the difficult decision to home educate her, as she was unable to cope with the noise, social demands and pressures of a traditional school environment. She struggled to communicate in school and found each day completely overwhelming.

When she first joined Develop Outdoors, she was terrified and unsure whether she would be able to attend long term. However, through the patience, understanding and kindness of the staff, she gradually began to come out of her shell.

She initially attended one day a week for a year before asking if she could increase her attendance to two days a week. Since September 2024, she has attended for two days each week and has absolutely flourished under the guidance and support of Faye, Gary, Jess, Ruth, Yolandi and the many other dedicated members of this exceptional organisation.

This year, she left with three Level 1 qualifications and a Level 2 qualification, achievements that once felt completely out of reach. More importantly, she has grown into a confident young person who now recognises her own strengths and abilities. The change in her has been remarkable.

We are so grateful that we found Develop Outdoors and will always be thankful for everything the team has done to help our daughter realise just how capable and amazing she truly is.

She is now back in mainstream education full-time, attending five days a week, and is thoroughly enjoying Year 11.

Thank you to everyone at Develop Outdoors for your hard work, dedication and belief in young people who may struggle to find their place in traditional education. Organisations like yours are invaluable, and we need more people and services like Develop Outdoors to support the many children who simply need a different environment to thrive.