Our team

Eloise Littlechild, Co-ordinator

I moved to London to study fine art combined media at Chelsea College of Art and Design. After graduating I worked internationally as a freelance stylist for brands, magazines, television and music videos.

Soon after I had my children I became increasingly interested in education and the importance of what we teach our children, when and how we do this. The early years felt like such a crucial time for children to learn values, a sensitivity to their surroundings and each other, cooperation, self-expression and the opportunity to apply oneself to what we are passionate about so that we can flourish and grow. After running home education programmes for my own and other home educated children in Stroud, I was moved to help create a group of teachers that could come together to provide a stable, caring and personalised educational environment.

Grace de Berker, Co-ordinator,  Project Lesson, Art & Textiles

I graduated from Bristol in 2010 with a Drawing and Applied Arts degree. I specialised in textiles and love being creative whether through fabric, sewing, drawing, cooking or gardening.

During my time in Bristol, I have worked as a Kindergarten Assistant at The Rowan Tree and as a director at a Co-operative After School Club for 4-13 year olds. In both jobs, I engaged with a wide range of children and loved the variety and enthusiasm they brought to each day. In 2012 I set up a weekly Creative Textiles Class for adults as part of the Community Workshop in Nailsworth which, I have been teaching ever since. I also teach children’s textiles workshops over the holidays dyeing, felting, printing and sewing our own clothes, bags, bunnies and more! I have two daughters Elfine, 7 and Bonnie, 4.

Ali Judd - English and Maths

After doing my degree in Drama, English and Music, and my MA in Shakespeare Studies, I began working first with adults and then with children with special needs in two Steiner based residential homes and for MENCAP. After a few years I decided to train as a teacher and did a post grad year in Early Years. I taught at Haresfield village school, a much larger school in Yorkshire, and then spent ten years working at Sheepscombe village school. After 16 years, in 2012 I became involved in 1-1 tutoring, with both school children needing a little support, and with home educated children (tutoring and working at a PTG), and for just over a year also worked part time as a supply teacher and teaching assistant at Horsley school. 

Sarah Davis-Berry - Outdoor Games

From a dance and drama background, I created Dazzle Creative Events for Children, which now runs Creative Holiday Clubs, Girl Power Confidence Courses, After School Dance Clubs, School Topic Dance courses, School Productions, Early Years classes and Holiday Theatre Workshops. The focus running through any Dazzle event is equality, encouraging and developing creativity, self-esteem and individuality through drama, dance, sports and team games.

“Through games and play we learn how we and others feel and what it means to be human”

The Flexi-Hub group will concentrate on teamwork, confidence-building, positive body image and fitness. Through team games, improvisation and group discussions the sessions aim to develop a healthy competitive spirit with the focus on participation rather than ‘winning or losing’, an awareness of ours and others abilities, acknowledging our own and others achievements and strengths. We will be working outdoors whenever possible. 

Alice Watson - School of Larks

School of Larks is a local circus school. We are very interested in the educational and creative possibilities of circus disciplines and the benefits they can have on self-esteem, coordination, autonomy, strength, flexibility, self-control and cooperation. There are also a huge variety of different skills in circus, which means that each individual has the opportunity to find out what interests them most. As circus skills are considered a sport and an art they are an excellent combination as an educational tool.

Our classes always involve fun warm ups, often based on yoga to make sure that all students are aware of the importance of a safe and healthy use of their bodies. Some of the skills you might learn will be; tightrope walking, aerial trapeze and silks, rolla bolla and teeter board, hula-hooping, acro-balance, tumbling, juggling, spinning plates and more.

Lizzie Giles - Maths 

I trained as a primary school teacher in Cardiff and worked in a variety of schools both inner city and rural. After completing my training I moved to Bristol and taught for a number of years in a large inner city school.

In my twenties I spent time travelling and lived in Canada for a year teaching pottery at a Camphill community in Montreal. On returning from travelling I worked as a teacher at Ruskin Mill College teaching English, Maths and Cookery.I also taught at Sheepscombe school in Stroud for 4 years.

I am hugely passionate about teaching and work hard to build self confidence in the children I work with. When children are confident and happy they can do anything!

I have two children of my own aged 2 and 5. As a family we look after a small holding together and spend as much time as possible outdoors.

Isla Craik - Textiles

I was brought up in The Netherlands and after completing a Steiner Education I embarked on a three-year sailing voyage that took me around the world on tall ships. After landing in The UK and working on house restoration projects, I started a Certificate in Furniture making and Upholstery. On completing this, I felt it was time to follow my aspiration to work with children, and began my degree in Waldorf Education at the University of Plymouth. My dissertation was; ‘Nature as a Teacher, and her task in Childhood.’

The traditional crafts and the inspiration from nature have played an important and fundamental part in my life and teaching practice. Working with children continues to inspire, surprise and deeply motivate me to help draw out their innermost aspirations and joy for learning.

Emily Hall - Choir 

First and foremost I’m a composer - I like to write for other people - anything from children’s choir to opera. I love writing music for people to sing. When I moved to Stroud 2 years ago I started the Stroud Fringe Choir and then I ran a “mini opera club” at my children’s school. Over the years I have taught at various primary schools, composition at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and musicianship to children at Junior Trinity College of Music.

I love living in Stroud and I love walking in the hills. I hope to walk to Minchinhampton and back on the day when I teach Flexi-Hub choir - we’ll see….

Mathew Meadows - Outdoor Learning

I have always been interested in wildlife and studied Zoology and Conservation Biology. After work in Africa, developing a wildlife monitoring project and then the Cross River Gorilla Research Project.  

I studied for a PGCE, with Science specialism and taught in primary schools for 12 years.  During this time, the call of the wild grabbed my attention once more and I decided to develop work offering outdoor learning and Forest School.

Outdoor Learning sessions will follow the seasons, offering the children the opportunity to experience, first hand, the changes that nature brings. We will learn about; life cycles of living things, how animals and plants respond to changes in their environment during the year, patterns in nature including weather, how things grow and how we can cultivate and manage a garden and explore the impact that our activities have on our environment.

We make our harps in a small workshop in Woodchester.

Ellie - Harp

Ellie teaches for Hands on Harp, established in 2013 by husband and wife team Creag and Morwenna Louttit-Vermaat, Hands on Harps aims to make learning the harp affordable and accessible to anyone. As well as running local groups in South Gloucestershire, we offer an online course so that anyone, anywhere in the world can learn to play the harp affordably

Julie Henderson - Ballyhoo Dance

I have worked as a professional dancer and singer for the past 24 years, working in the West End, performing with P&O World cruises and all over the world in hair and fashion shows, car launches, corporate galas and TV appearances including The Royal Variety Performance.

For the past 10 years, I have performed in and choreographed musicals, plays and cabarets at The Playhouse and The Everyman theatres in Cheltenham for “Focus theatre” and choreographed “The Witches of Eastwick” for Blue Parrot productions at The Bacon Theatre. I have taught at The Stapleton School of Dancing and was a module tutor for the Performing Arts degree course at The University of Gloucestershire for 5 years. I now focus entirely on Ballyhoo dance and theatre school based in the 5 valleys between Cirencester and Stroud and my own children’s busy lives.

Alice Lowrie - English, Maths & Mindfulness

In between gaining a degree in Social Anthroplogy and a PGCE in primary education, I volunteered in South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in educational and wildlife settings. I have eight years experience working in the learning disabilities field, in a user led organisation. 

After having my children, I became passionate about the benefits of mindfulness for mental health. I am trained with Mindfulness in Schools Project, delivering courses to primary and secondary schools. I offer private 1:1 and small group sessions and talks to organisations. I run Mindfulness for Children in Stroud, where I teach children, families and adults. I also run Free Spirit Holiday Club. In all my work I am committed to teaching and nurturing resilience, self esteem, compassion, diversity and equality. I am constantly amazed by the empathy and wisdom of the children I teach. I learn from them everyday. I am a mum and step mum to four children: Ada(10), Billy(10), Joe(8) and Mitch(7).

Rebecca Kimberly - Art

I’ve been teaching for over 20 years in schools Art centres and community settings and Since 2012 I’ve been enjoying working independently as a community artist under the name Cotswoldcre8.

I’m passionate about Learning through The Arts; encouraging confidence and self-esteem through creativity and exploration. My work embraces a wide range of media within which I love exploring paint collage texture and colour. As a local Mum I have Flexi-schooled both my children and seen them bloom - & alongside have run creative outdoor Home Ed classes at The Cotswold Forest school.

I also run Arts Award classes for the silver and bronze level with young Home ed teenagers in the area -the most recent course being in Nailsworth Subrooms. I presently run classes at The churn project in Cirencester and extensively with Shine, a support group for mums with post natal depression.

Keziah Benbow - Creative Dance

Keziah (known as Kez) began dancing aged 2 and was instantly hooked. She regularly treated unexpecting supermarket-shoppers to impromptu performances and loved the sense of sharing her creativity with others. Fast forward 16 years and after initially choosing to study musical theatre, Kez realised contemporary dance and inclusive practice was where she wanted to focus. Obtaining a degree in dance and graduating in 2016, Kez trained with Diverse City and Matthew Bourne as a community artist. Kez now facilitates dance, theatre and musical theatre workshops as a freelance artist with a 70% focus upon inclusivity and accessibility in the arts. Kez believes performance is for all ages, shapes, sizes and abilities and uses her unique approach to facilitating the arts to inspire people to make their voice heard, their movement purposeful and their lives a little brighter in general.”

Suki Hutcheson - Drama

I studied a Combined Arts degree at Durham and a postgraduate Acting course at DSL in London. I was eager to create and write my own work and to give children the same experiences I had had as a child. I worked for 5 years for Perform, a drama school for kids in London, and managed six schools. In 2008 I moved back west and set up my own company CAMEO Kids for 4-8 year olds and in 2011 I brought this to Stroud, where I now live. I also works at Beaudesert Park School teaching private LAMDA lessons and at ‘Dramarama’ and ‘Flies on the Wall youth theatre’ with older children devising shows and creating unique pieces of theatre. I continue to be amazed by the imagination of children and the incredible resource of the performing arts to assist in all areas of life.