Meet the Team

Rory started life again in London after emigrating on his own from South Africa when he was 21 years old. A pathway of discovery and learning from others led him to move from his early career as a photographer into an IT business by teaching himself to network computers. He then moved into people management in various corporate businesses, where he discovered his passion to help others. This passion led him to set up his own business consultancy 3 years ago and also led him to take up several volunteer roles over the last 10 years. He is currently the Chair of Governors at the local primary school his 2 children attended and now he has taken in the role of treasurer for Stomping Grounds. He enjoys travelling with his wife and 2 children both within the UK (usually in their camper van) and abroad to more exotic countries to learn about other cultures. In his spare time he also enjoys running, kitesurfing, scuba diving and is a qualified pilot.

Kate joined Stomping Grounds in October 2022 and works tirelessly behind the scenes keeping bookwhen right, timetabling, supporting with invoicing and answering all of our and your questions.

Kate’s favourite thing about Forest School is the hammocks and the delicious pizza wraps!

After an early career with British Petroleum in Personnel Management, Gary was a Management Consultant for more than 20 years, specialising in helping organisations to change to improve the engagement of their people. He went on to co-found a consultancy company to help clients to deliver their promises to both their people and their customers. For the past ten years he has led the human resources functions in three organisations, most recently the Marine Management Organisation, which is responsible for the sustainable development of the English seas.
Gary designed and delivered development and training programmes in leadership and people management for a wide range of organisations and taught the International Human Resource Management component of a Masters degree at Regents Business School London
Born in Hull, Gary spent most of his adult life in London before moving to Northumberland in 2007. This has enabled him to rediscover his interest in and enjoyment of the unbuilt environment.

Starting out as a rural community development worker, Becky has worked in the voluntary sector almost all of her working life. She is currently Deputy Chief Executive of Changing Lives, a North East based charity supporting people experiencing the most challenging times to make positive changes. She oversees their operational services and business development, as well as working with the senior team on strategy and governance. Before joining Changing Lives, Becky worked for Homeless Link, Centrepoint, the YWCA England and Wales and Futurebuilders England, in a variety of roles all centred around supporting and developing services and partnerships. Becky lives in Hexham and loves nothing more than exploring the woods with the kids, swimming in rivers and generally messing about outside.

PGCE, rated outstanding by Ofsted, Level 3 Forest School Practitioner, expert in creating learning environments which promote positive behaviour and working with young people Not in Education, Employment or Training, enhanced DBS, Level 2 paediatric First Aid, Approved Therapeutic Forest Practitioner with Therapeutic Skills for Outdoor Leader Training, Earth Walk Training, Child Protection Lead.

Bringing up 3 of my own wild children in the most Forest School way possible. Learning from them every step of the way.

Stuart is a Level 3 forest school practitioner with a background in teaching. He loves the outdoors and his favourite memories of teaching were always trips to the woods with his various classes.

Stuart is passionate about working alongside young people to develop their connection to the natural world around us.

Stuart understands the importance of being open and available for children. He is always ready to adapt to their ideas and be whoever they need him to be, whether that is a fire friend, co-builder of dens, hammock putter-upper or mud monster no.3.

In his spare time you will find Stuart juggling two muddy little children, building more dens and going on big walking adventures with his friends.

Early Years Practitioner at Kindergarten

PGCE primary and Early Years. Gemma has over 15 years experience of teaching in early years settings. UTW coordinator with responsibility of developing outdoor learning. Previous to that she worked for local councils as a play worker in Summer camps and holiday clubs.
Enhanced DBS

Gemma discovered and fell in love with forest school when taking her own children along to Stomping Grounds sessions. There is something about the magic of the woods!

She enjoys long walks with her fur baby Archie, cooking and crafting!

Nikki first found Stomping Grounds when she and her daughter started attending Under 5s sessions, and she saw how the woodland enabled the children to play freely, wildly, and confidently without the usual constraints of other toddler groups. The environment was like a natural soft play, full of places to clamber, jump, reach, and run around in, and where imagination could grow large.

She went on to train as a Level 3 Forest School Practitioner with Scotswood Garden, and found the training reinforced her belief in the abilities of children and young people to make their own decisions, to lead their learning, and to develop ways to advocate for themselves and increase their self-esteem through trying out new skills and learning to manage risk.

Nikki works with different groups of young people, both at our main site at Prudhoe and in school settings. She still attends Under 5s sessions as a parent, and can usually be found wandering after her daughter, off on another adventure through the woods.

Emma is a level 3 Forest School practitioner, she has a PGCE, MA (Environmental Philosophy), enhanced DBS, Outdoor Paediatric and Forest School first aid training and, has extensive experience working outdoors and with young people.

Emma’s background is in education and teaching. Always concerned with what happens to the young people left behind by mainstream education, Emma has worked in Pupil Referral Units, alternative provision settings, as well as schools.

Emma discovered Stomping Grounds 2 years ago, and is a passionate advocate for the untold benefits of spending time in the woods.

Emma is at her happiest outdoors, ideally in a wooded river valley, swimming, walking, and just being within nature.

‎Community Link Worker

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ (Peace be upon you)

My name is Sidra, a friend of nature. I’m most happy when outdoors appreciating the countless blessings of our beautiful planet Earth.
I am overjoyed with my role as a community link worker for the west end of Newcastle. I thoroughly enjoy speaking with families from the BAME community about the amazing benefits of forest schooling. I feel a great sense of achievement seeing the joy and happiness families experience after attending just one session. Nature never fails to impress!

Katie is a registered Social Worker, she has worked for over 10 years with children and families specialising in teenage behaviour whilst practising within a trauma-informed lens.

Katie found out about forest school after she found herself regularly signposting young people she worked with to join some of their young leader sessions, she found the young people were building confidence, resilience and had new and exciting things to talk to their families about which led to rebuilding family connections.

Stomping Grounds re-ignited her passion about engaging children, young people and adults in the forest through curiosity, play and learning. She knows, too well, about how many people are historically excluded from the outdoors and what an amazing resource the forest is in supporting people’s mental health and ongoing wellness.

Stomping Grounds fits into Katie’s ethos; be outside, laugh, play, be silly, connect to your emotions and learn, all in a child led environment.

John has been working with charities for the last 13 years, with half in Malawi and Liberia and the remainder in the slightly less warm North East. He has always been interested in alternatives and the power those excluded or marginalised can take to make a difference. In a former life, he worked on a farm in Northumberland and remains very interested in food justice and agroecology.
John is working with Stomping Grounds to develop new partnerships and projects, especially with communities that may not get the opportunities to experience the transformation that forest school can bring. He is not a qualified forest school leader but loves spending time in the woods supporting when he gets the time.
John lives in Heaton with Katie and his miniature schnauzer, Poppy, and loves spending time in nature, sitting on benches and drinking tea with cakes.

Ben is an experienced and passionate forest school practitioner, bringing together his knowledge of woodlands, storytelling, and craft skills to provide unique and engaging sessions.
He has facilitated workshops at international conferences, co-founded a successful CIC called Living Woods North East, and has completed a year long course at the West Country School of Myth and Storytelling. He spends much of his time writing stories, essays and poetry, and hangs out with ecologists and botanists, learning the names and stories of ancient woodland species. The confluence of woodland knowledge and imagination provides a rich repository to draw from in forest school.

Umara is enthusiastic about working with young children and adults in education and Forest School settings. Umara has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and has completed an Understanding Children and Young People Mental Health course from Sunderland College.
Umara has extensive experience working with children and young people in Pakistan, Japan, Saudi Arabia and now in the UK. Umara is passionate about forest school, and wants to introduce it to their home country of Pakistan and is looking forward to taking forest school learning and teaching experiences to support BAME communities.

Level 3 Forest School practitioner, Paediatric and Outdoor First Aid trained, PGCE Primary and Early Years, M.Sc. Biological Anthropology.
Felicity began her career sharing a love of all things creepy-crawly with young people in the gardens of the Natural History Museum and amongst the pond life of Hampstead Heath. The more she saw children engaging and connecting with nature, the more she realised the magical power it has to develop character, confidence and sense of self. Felicity went on to train and work as a SEN teacher and in this role has always strived to find ways to take her classes outdoors and into nature. Finally, on maternity leave in 2018, she took the plunge and completed her Forest School Level 3 Practitioner training.
When she’s not juggling her part-time teaching role, Forest School work and being mum to two adventurous young things, you’ll find Felicity determinedly practicing chords on the ukulele or escaping for a long run along our beautiful North East coastline.

Ruby is a Level 3 Forest School and Therapeutic Forest Practitioner , who started working with Stomping Grounds in July 2020.

From a Linguistics background, Ruby has a keen interest in child neurolinguistic development and how we see the world through language. During the first lockdown, Ruby discovered Forest School as the perfect combination of her love of conservation and working with children – the dream job! She loves to be crafty and creative, finding fun ways to engage the children with all the “loose parts” the woodland has to offer.

Ruby is a great believer in the importance of nature connectedness to the health of both people and the planet. How can children learn to protect the environment when they haven’t experienced time in nature? She is passionate about helping children and adults alike to discover the wellbeing forests can bring.

In her spare time you can find Ruby bird-watching, cold water swimming, or practicing her next woodland craft!

Rhoda just loves to be outdoors – walking the dog, digging in the garden, or out and about exploring with her children. She has been working with families and children for

many years in voluntary roles such as toddler groups and summer camps. After several years as a full-time parent, she also ran her own childminding business where she developed a love of child-led learning, especially in the outdoor environment.

Having recently completed a Certificate in Higher Education in Early Childhood, Rhoda is continuing her degree studies alongside working.

John has worked in the North East museums sector for the last 17 years, leading teams and organisations to create multi-award winning work that takes risks and matters to the people who live here. He’s now an independent producer and consultant, working with the cultural heritage, research and education sectors.

John is working with Stomping Grounds to deliver Wild Ideas, a team development day running from Duke’s Hagg Woods.

John lives in the village of Chopwell with his partner and 3 kids. He’s a trustee for Chopwell Regeneration, a resident-led charity seeking to make positive change in Chopwell through cultural and health programmes, business development and capital projects.

In his spare time John runs, drums, pickles, brews and ferments.

Honor is currently training for the Level 3 Forest School Lead Practitioner. Honor states that she has gathered so much information and hands-on skills doing this course and is looking forward to all the new things she will get to learn.

Honor started working with children in the 1990’s in the Holiday Entertainment sector, both in the Uk (Haven Holidays) and in Europe (EuroSites). She has always enjoyed being in the outdoors. Finding this work has really expanded her love of all things nature and getting to work alongside such knowledgeable people. She has a keen interest in plant ID, foraging and medicinal plant properties.

Meet Alice! She’s a trainee Level 3 Forest School Practitioner, with Outdoor Paediatric First Aid and Enhanced DBS. She is soon going to be trained in Therapeutic Forest Skills as well as Permaculture practice.

Alice works with all ages but her main focus is 11-18 (her background pre-forest school is as a youth worker) and she’s really passionate about making access to forest school more equitable by working with historically excluded groups to encourage them to feel welcome in the woods!

She love learning about nature from young people and sharing her learning with them, getting stuck into whittling projects and is also a big fan of playing wild team games and all the laughter and bonding that they bring!

In her spare time she likes to go on adventures in her yellow campervan, loves climbing and baking bread!

Emma is a Level 3 Forest School Practitioner and qualified in CACHE Children and Young Peoples workforce, CACHE Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools, First Aid at Work, OutDoor And Paediatric First Aid, Enhanced DBS.
Emma has over seven years experience as a Teaching Assistant in a primary school, helping to develop Forest School, Outdoor Learning and OPAL. Emma is also currently working on a Hygge in the Early Years Accreditation.
Emma has 3 children and a dog and they all share the love of the outdoors, they spend their weekends walking in the woods or at the beach, always looking for a new adventure.

BA (Hons) in Primary Education, Experienced Teacher of Early Years, Primary and children in specialist SEND provision. Level 3 Forest School Practitioner. Enhanced DBS.

Champion of preserving early childhood and focusing on creating environments where children can play, learn and move freely whilst developing the foundational skills of talking, listening, thinking for themselves, solving problems and getting along with others before other demands are placed upon them. Passionate about children learning through play and taking the lead in their own learning.

Mum to one, who reminds me everyday of the joy found in play!

BA Hons Early Childhood and Curriculum Studies, Early Years Professional Status, Level 3 Forest School Practitioner, Therapeutic Skills for Outdoor Leaders, D1 Minibus Driver Qualification, Paediatric and Outdoor First Aid, Enhanced DBS Disclosure. Over a decade of experience working within the early years in a multitude of roles, outdoors.

Victoria has spent most of her life enjoying being outside. Her deep connection and love of Nature began in her early years, memories still drawn upon and treasured. Victoria now enjoys spending her adult life both as a parent and a professional giving opportunities which enable children to create memories for themselves. Victoria continues to feel excited to share with children new adventures every day.

Forest School level 3 Practitioner, PGCE, MA (Visual Arts), enhanced DBS, Outdoor Paediatric First Aid training, Therapeutic Skills for Outdoor Leaders, extensive special educational needs experience.

Carolin has worked with people of all ages and abilities facilitating creative workshops and trained as a Forest School Practitioner in 2015 before completing teacher training. Carolin has also worked full-time as the Forest School lead at a school for pupils with special needs, as the Day Farming Activity Supervisor at Natural Ability and coordinated projects with volunteers for the Woodland Trust.

Carolin is passionate about nature connection and further training in therapeutic skills. Environmental campaigner, and still busy with three teenagers at home.

Level 3 Forest School practitioner, Level 3 Paediatric First Aid trained, CACHE Level 3 Home-based Childcare, Childhood Studies BA (Hons), PG Cert Social Research, MPhil (Young women’s aspirations for education and employment in the North East).

Suzanne found forest school whilst boycotting year 2 SATs with her kids 3 years ago and hasn’t looked back. Stomping Grounds combines many of her loves – for trees, wildlife, fungus, fire, play and freedom. You’ll find Suzanne smelling stuff in nature and lugging kit about.

Sophie has been a forest school practitioner for 4 years with a background in teaching, and is a qualified Forest School Level 3 Practitioner.

She can often be found hunting for lichen on twigs and rocks. She loves to build childrens’ connection to nature through exploration and play.

Tina has spent her career in marketing, having worked 30 years for many organisations and marketing agencies. Most of her work has been helping companies plan communications and manage their reputation. She first worked in the Midlands with The NEC in Birmingham, before time working for agencies in London. She relocated back to her native North East around 20 years ago, working in tourism, social housing and the charitable sector, and now works as a freelance marketing and brand consultant.

Alongside, Tina has recently qualified with the Royal Horticultural Society having been a lover of the outdoors and horticulture all her life, and now works part-time as a commercial gardener alongside her marketing.