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EAQ Grass Roots Equine Assisted Learning


EAQ Grass Roots is based on a small farm in Crowhurst, Surrey and offers equine assisted learning sessions in a natural, outdoor environment for children and young people. Times and dates can be arranged to meet individual needs and the centre is open all year round. As well as therapeutic sessions, EAQ Grass Roots specialises in alternative education provision for children and young people and offers nationally recognised qualifications.

There will be more availability for equine assisted learning sessions at our alternative provision, With EAQ Grass Roots, from September 2021.

 What We do:

  • Alternative and therapeutic education for children and young people in an outdoor environment with animals and using specialist communication techniques
  • Work with children and young people who may have complex diagnosis including ASD, PDA, school refusal and other social, emotional and behavioural needs
  • Personal and social skills development and programmes to support mental well-being
  • Offer nationally recognised qualifications from Entry Level to Level 3 including a Level 1 Certificate for Skills for Professions in Animal Care
  • Implement safer recruitment procedures with all staff having DBS checks and specialist training including safeguarding.

Who to contact

Contact Name
Fiona House
Contact Position
Equine Assisted Learning Facilitator
Telephone
07498 551 262
E-mail
fiona@withgrassroots.co.uk
Website
https://www.withgrassroots.co.uk/

Where to go

Name
EAQ Grass Roots
Address
Church Farm
Crowhurst Lane
Crowhurst
Surrey
Postcode
RH7 6LR

When is it on?

Date & Time Information
Monday to Friday, 9 am till 6pm, term time with some holiday/weekend activities.
Time of day
Afternoon
Morning

Other Details

Table of costs
Table of costs
AmountCost Type
£55 Per hour
Cost(s)
Referral and availability notes

Please contact us for information on availability. We will arrange a free taster day where you can see if the service is suitable for your needs and we can advise on a suitable intervention.

Notes

EAQ Grass Roots offers equine assisted learning sessions for children and young people who:

  • are usually not in full time mainstream education
  • may have been excluded from school
  • will benefit from a different approach to learning
  • need different levels of support
  • may have complex diagnoses including learning difficulties, social, emotional and behavioural needs, ASD, PDA, school refusal.

Our facilitators, with our horses and dogs, lead sessions using specialist communication techniques that allow a learner to move into self-directed and experiential learning. During our sessions we provide the opportunity for learners to have experiences that enhance academic learning, self-awareness, reflection and energy level regulation.

We adopt a person-centred facilitation style in our sessions with individualised aims and objectives for each learner to be able to meet their own needs.

​Our sessions predominantly take place in the outdoors, with some undercover and indoor spaces too.

Age Range
11-18, 19-25
Disablities:
Autism, Behaviour and learning, Behavioural, emotional and social development, Communication and interaction, Language difficulty, Learning difficulty, Profound, severe or complex, Severe learning difficulty,

Local Offer

Local Offer Disabilities
Learning difficulty
Language difficulty
Behavioural, emotional and social development
Severe learning difficulty
Communication and interaction
Autism
Profound, severe or complex
Behaviour and learning
Local Offer Age Bands
Secondary (11-16 years)
Transitions to Adulthood (16+)
Needs Level
Medium
High
Low
SEN Provision Type
Special school

Special Needs Support

We talk to parents as frequently as they wish and using their preferred method of communication - in person, over the phone, by email or text. We also write a half termly report and send it to parents and the agency that commissioned the sessions.

We do not follow the National Curriculum; we offer therapeutic animal assisted learning sessions. Sessions are focussed on each child's individual needs and objectives, according to the information given to us by parents and commissioning agencies.

Our sessions are child led and person centred, so that the learning takes place through the opportunities and activities offered by the facilitator in the outdoors and with the animals. We use specialist communication techniques that allow the learner to move into self directed and experiential learning. Through these experiences learners enhance academic learning, self awareness, reflection and energy level regulation. 

We offer one to one sessions with trained facilitators who are experienced and skilled in working with a wide variety of children with special and additional needs.

We regularly feed back information to parents and provide a monthly or half termly report which describes changes made towards achieving objectives set at the start of the intervention.

All our learning opportunities are inclusive because our method of working is child led and completely individualised with problem solving skills being an integral part of the learning process. Our key restriction is ensuring the safety of the child, facilitators and animals.

Our centres have areas that are wheelchair accessible and if the learner cannot get to certain areas due to mobility issues, we are able to ensure that the same activities take place in the accessible areas by bringing the horses and dogs to the learner.

We will work with each individual to ensure that they can participate in the introduction to the setting by offering a taster session where any concerns can be discussed and solutions found. We can also be creative with video calls, social stories, social media. We are sensitive to different communication, emotional and social needs and will work with parents and commissioning agencies to find the best way to support transitions. When an individual moves on from our setting we will also look to support this transition in any way that is appropriate, this can include visits to a new setting, attending multi-disciplinary meeting and knowledge sharing.

We are set up to work with children who are unable to access mainstream and traditional education and we currently assess our effectiveness by obtaining feedback from parents, children and agencies on the intervention. We also monitor and record changes and developments noticed during sessions, especially in relation to the individual's objectives, through our monthly / half termly reports.

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