About Nest Cornwall CIC

Nest is an acronym for nurturing education for the soul together and supports children and young people that are home educated in Cornwall.

Nest Cornwall CIC values children being able to access their natural curiosity and creativity in a supportive child centred setting. The activities we provide to children attending Nest Cornwall CIC are carefully thought out by our facilitators to support emotional and physical wellbeing. Some activities include foraging, fire lighting, gardening, arts and crafts, pottery and many more.

The backstory: During the Covid-19 pandemic, I became an elective home educating parent to my eldest son who didn’t fit the mainstream schooling system. My son prefers autonomous learning and benefits from a less restrictive environment where he can move freely to self-regulate and listen to music whilst drawing if that’s what his nervous system requires.

Together my son and I worked on a plan to create a creative learning setting that would serve him and other children in our community.

Having been inspired by the late Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk https://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY?si=f-IBzsBFReu5T6BE initially we started out very small and hired a dance hall studio in Penryn offering dance and songwriting. My son, having had a negative experience at school regained his confidence and made new friends. I noticed that his social skills were improving by being around other children who were home educated and that there was a need to expand our space to include outdoor free play.

We relocated to Chyan Farm in 2023 and to make the most of the space we hired Stanka Smith from Imagine Outdoors CIC to provide outdoor natured based activities. I decided to restructure Nest Cornwall CIC to a not for profit community interest company in February 2024.

Our mixed range range age group of 6-12 years is based on the Montessori elementary phase which is a pedagogy that Nest Cornwall CIC strongly supports. Recently we have been able to offer Montessori during our learning day with a qualified Montessori guide. We are in the development phase of introducing a 12-16 year old group and more details will be announced.

Children that have struggled at mainstream schools find that the smaller group size at Nest Cornwall CIC is more manageable with an adult child ratio of 1:8.

If you are considering joining our learning community please get in touch via email and complete our registration form below:

https://eu.jotform.com/assign/232371222762349/232375663391057

otherwise you might want to follow us on the social links below.

Lucie Hill,

Founder/Managing Director

PG Cert: Play and Creative Arts (Play Therapy UK) Due to be completed May 2026.

BA Hons Media Studies and English Literature (Marjons, Plymouth).

Advice and Guidance (NVQ 3 Connexions Cornwall and Devon Ltd)

Board of Directors

Lucie Hill

Beth Ivy Buxton

Elizabeth Scrace