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Welcome to Wild Minds

Nurturing Through Nature

Wild Minds Alternative Provision is a specialist, high-needs alternative education provision supporting young people aged 11–19 with complex SEND, SEMH, and mental health needs. Many of the young people we support have experienced repeated placement breakdowns or have been unable to thrive in mainstream or larger alternative settings.

Set within our family farm in Buckinghamshire, the provision offers a calm, structured, and nature-based environment for learners who find traditional education overwhelming.

As a small specialist provision, each young person receives tailored support, low-ratio input, and individual attention. Programmes are carefully designed around each learner’s strengths, needs, and future pathways.

Refer a Young Person

What Makes Us Different?

Low-ratio, specialist support
Learning is delivered through a combination of 1:1 support and very small groups, typically no more than 3–5 learners, with dedicated staff who provide consistent, relational support across the day.
Individualised pathways
Every learner follows a personalised programme shaped around their needs, strengths, interests, and future pathways, with flexibility built in to respond to regulation, engagement, and progress.
A safe, regulated environment
Calm routines, predictable structure, and a low-demand, trauma-informed approach help young people feel secure, build trust, and gradually re-engage with learning.
Rooted in nature
Our farm setting, home to a wide range of rescue animals, provides space, fresh air, movement, and meaningful hands-on learning, supporting regulation, responsibility, and wellbeing.
A multidisciplinary team
Learners are supported by a skilled, multidisciplinary team including qualified teachers, functional skills specialists, therapeutic and behaviour-informed practitioners, mentors, and practical skills coaches, working together to provide joined-up support.
Led by lived experience
As a neurodivergent-led team, we combine professional expertise with genuine empathy, insight, and understanding of the challenges many of our learners face.

Our Programmes

We combine vocational learning, functional skills, personal development, and emotional wellbeing through structured pathways designed to support progression into further education, training, or employment.

Learners work towards nationally recognised accreditations, building a meaningful portfolio of achievement that reflects both academic progress and wider personal development.

Our accreditations include:

• Maths and English Functional Skills
• ASDAN Short Courses (including Animal Care and Construction)
• AQA Unit Awards
• ASDAN Life Skills Challenges
• NOCN Skills for Employment, Training, and Personal Development

Animal Care

Hands-on learning with our rescue animals, including horses, goats, reptiles, and birds of prey. Learners develop responsibility, empathy, confidence, and practical animal management skills, while building routines and emotional regulation through meaningful care-based activities.

Construction & Land-Based Skills

Practical projects in carpentry, site maintenance, conservation, and land-based tasks. Learners develop teamwork, problem-solving, resilience, and transferable vocational skills, contributing to real improvements across the site and building a sense of purpose and achievement.

Social & Emotional Learning

Personal development is embedded throughout the day and supported through structured mentoring, reflection, and experiential learning. Learners develop emotional regulation, communication skills, self-awareness, and confidence to support future education, training, employment, and independent living.

Who We Support

We support young people with a wide range of additional needs, including:

• Autism Spectrum Conditions
• ADHD
• SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs)
• SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities)

Many of the young people we support have experienced school refusal, repeated placement breakdowns, or difficulty accessing traditional education settings.

Non-School Alternative Provision Context

Wild Minds operates as a non-school Alternative Provision (AP) for learners aged 11–19.

Placements are part-time, typically up to 15 hours per week, and are commissioned by schools or local authorities.

Wild Minds does not provide full-time education and is therefore not registered with the Department for Education. Responsibility for statutory education, registration, attendance, and EHCP duties remains with the commissioning school or local authority.

This model allows us to focus on specialist, low-ratio provision for learners with complex needs alongside other agreed educational arrangements.

One Wild Minds – Two Pathways

Wild Minds delivers support through two connected pathways, sharing the same ethos and values:

Wild Minds Alternative Provision
Specialist alternative provision for young people aged 11–19, commissioned by schools and local authorities for learners with an EHCP or under Section 19 arrangements.

Wild Minds Pro
A separate service offering therapy, mentoring, and wellbeing support, including post-19 provision, for young people, families, and adults.

Not currently eligible for referral to Wild Minds Alternative Provision? Support may still be available through Wild Minds Pro.

Not currently eligible for referral? You can still access support through Wild Minds Pro.