Miriam is committed to outdoor education, and to the Forest School mission of providing playful, inclusive learning experiences for every child in the natural environment.

Miriam has over twenty years of experience in leading communities, collaboratively working on shared values and vision.  

As a former teacher in the Educate Together network, Miriam delivered workshops on ethos and equality conferences. As principal of Dalkey School Project, she supported the introduction of Forest School for every pupil and The Scaip Project. 

She is currently serving as board member on the Children’s Rights Alliance and Educate Together.

Ellie McEwan is currently setting up Elemental Outdoor learning (info@elemental-ol.ie) from her new home in Co. Mayo. It is a coming home for Ellie who spent her childhood summers on her Grandparents farm in Mayo, deepening her roots, connecting with nature and creating wonderful memories. She has always been happiest in nature and now joins that with her passionate to engage and play with people, particularly children, in nature and see how they too thrive within it.

Ellie’s background is in Early Years and she is a trained Montessori directress. Always the one to get everyone outside and keep them there as long as possible; it was a natural progression to start working as a Forest School leader in 2017, qualifying in 2019.

Ellie is dedicated to lifelong learning and continues to access training and learning opportunities, with particular interest in mental health, trauma and addiction recovery, nature therapy and foraging. Gathered around the fire circle is her favourite place to be, in this age old tradition that deeply connects people through campfire food, good chat, song, story and togetherness. 

Kerry is a passionate, Forest School Leader, Forest Therapy Practitioner and an Art Therapist based in the South-West of Ireland. Her appreciation for nature and art has brought her on creative journey’s around the world. She is the founder of The Nature Hub, a platform to offer Forest School and Forest Therapy practices to children and adults. She has been involved in Forest School for the past 5 years, running forest after school groups, toddler groups, family groups and helps coordinate and facilitate for the Galway Forest School Leadership trainings. She also runs forest bathing sessions in Killarney National Park and is currently running a Forest Therapy pilot program to support people dealing with stress and anxiety. She has training in Eco-Psychology, Challenging Behaviour in the Outdoors, Therapeutic Play skills and is certified in Therapeutic skills for children in the outdoors.

Lucy Bell is co-founder of GROWing Wild, a Kildare based environmental education company, specialising in organic school & community gardens, local organic food projects, living willow, biodiversity & native habitat projects and forest schools.Lucy is an organic horticulturalist, a horticulture tutor, environmental educator and a trained Forest School Leader. Lucy is the co-author of ‘The Year-Round School Organic Garden’. Lucy is a Heritage Specialist for the ‘Heritage in Schools’ scheme. Lucy has worked as a willow artist and co-ordinator for décor as part of The Healing Area for Body & Soul and Body & Soul @ Electric Picnic since 2009 and as part of the décor collective Adorn Décor for Another Love Story. Lucy facilitates ways for people, both young and old, to connect to nature through school organic gardens and native habitat development, wilderness survival skills, wild foraging, woodland trips, living willow work and Bushcraft skills.www.growingwild.ie

Jenny has loved being a Forest school leader since 2014.  She is a primary teacher and started up Forest Fridays in Dalkey School Project with one class ten years ago.   After a term it grew to being offered to every child in the school.  It has become a core part of the curriculum and now the older children are being forest school assistants for the younger children.  Jenny loves cooking, foraging and growing food and can be found hiking and cycling around Ireland.  She has trained in permaculture, community facilitation, rewilding, school gardening, creativity & change, yoga and somatics and brings these together as care for our natural world, care for our selves and care for others in Forest school.  

Orla Gallagher is a Forest School Leader and Early Childhood Professional. A graduate of the B.A(Hons) in Early Childhood Care and Education at the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, Orla developed an interest in outdoor and risky play experiences and undertook the OCN Level 3 in Forest School Leadership in 2015. Orla was selected to present at the Early Childhood Ireland Research and Practice Seminar 2016 based on her undergraduate research into Unstructured Outdoor Play Habits of Children aged 3-6 years. Orla has a particular interest in supporting practitioners to facilitate child-led learning in wild outdoor spaces.

LK is new to the team. She is just wrapping up her Forest School coursework with ambitions to start a Forest School camp for teenagers, where she lives in Cahersiveen.

She has worked in environmental education for twelve years, weaving stories and solutions into all her programs.  Motivated by David Attenboroughs quote ‘No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced” She is looking forward to bringing nature connectivity into all her workshops.

LK is just settling into rural life with new additions -Sweetpea, Wellard and Sunny the ducks, Franklin, Fitzgerald and Simone the chickens and Ralph the cat. Most days (when she isn’t at the laptop) you can find her foraging around the garden trying her best to recover plants from rebel sheep, pottering around the local forest, up the mountain or in the sea. 

STORIES OF CHANGE – stories of good people