The Garden is a Community Interest Company, which means any profit we make goes back into the project. We’re registered as childcare with OFSTED, part of the Agile Learning Centre network and a founding member of the Learning Communities Alliance.
Adele Jarrett-Kerr - Director
Adele is a Trinidadian mother, writer, home educator, podcaster and self directed education facilitator and activist. A long time friend and supporter of The Garden, she founded Soulcraft, a self-directed, consent-based learning community for home educated young people in Cornwall in 2021.
Artemis D. Bear - Founder & Director
Artemis is a parent, home educator, registered childminder, Forest School Leader and qualified teacher. Artemis founded and has been running The Garden, a self directed learning community for all school aged young people, since 2016. Artemis also works for Phoenix Education Trust as Head of the Freedom to Learn programme and co-founded UBI Lab Bristol. They love sharing their interests in politics, philosophy, science, maths and creative engineering with young people.
Bess Spencer-Vellacott - Director & Mentor
Bess is a facilitator, educator, forest school practitioner, co-counsellor, maker, musician, gardener and forager. They’re interested in exploring intersections between these strands and with social justice and transformation.
Bethany Wood - Parent Director
Bethany is a parent of four, home educator, specialist teacher and Autism advocate. She is passionate about education and how outdoor environments can provide opportunities for young people to thrive and discover their passions.
Kate Windross - Mentor
Kate is a parent with 5 years' experience of home educating and a qualified primary teacher. She has a strong commitment to self-directed learning and children's rights. A life long learner herself, her special interests include art and crafts, writing, growing and the natural world.
Kirsty Green - Mentor
Kirsty qualified as a primary school teacher almost a decade ago and since then have been exploring alternative forms of education, working on a city farm, at forest schools and spending time in Sweden studying for a masters in outdoor environmental education and outdoor life. They’re passionate about using education to empower young people and their families. Kirsty enjoys cooking, baking, reading, making maps, learning about learning and spending time among trees.
Ollie Tarbuck - Director
Ollie has a degree in animation and has been working in the video games industry for over a decade. As well as running their own video game company, they’re a step-parent to two home educated young people and have an interest in community dynamics. They’re one of the stewards of the site and support art and game development projects at The Garden. Ollie is also a performer and show producer.
Advisors
We are fortunate to have benefited from the wisdom of many experienced educators, including those who have set up similar projects and other relevant experts, such as play therapists, teachers, psychologists, academics, artists and generally wonderful people who have taken an interest in our project. We'd like to thank them all for their input, especially those fellow home educators who have been involved to various degrees in the development of The Garden over the years.
