A Natural
Learning Approach
We aim to foster a nurturing environment that equips children with the tools and resources necessary to critically think. Our aim is to build self-awareness, self-reliance and self-realisation within a natural learning environment.
HOW WE CAN HELP
The current education system does not promote how to learn or foster the joy of learning. It sees learning as a separate entity to life, whereas really, learning is happening all the time.
Our wish is for children to feel supported to express their unique intelligences and selves. We strive to provide a supportive, nurturing and evolving environment that aims to recognise and foster the potential within each and every child.
BUILD
SELF-AWARENESS
Through working closely with nature, children learn how to interact with the environment, others and themselves. Children build an awareness of how their thoughts, actions and emotions have a lasting impact. We aim to build childrens' self-awareness and support them in aligning their internal standards, in a way that feels true to them.
BUILD
SELF-RELIANCE
We allow children, through project-based learning, to have autonomy and choice in designing solutions to problems and actualising these designs. Incidentally, this will involve children learning many of the skills they would usually learn at school, however within a natural environment.
BUILD
SELF-REALISATION
If we can build childrens' capacity to observe and understand their unique selves and embrace their unique intelligences, they have a higher chance of achieving to their full potential.
OUR OFFERINGS
FARM KIDS
Primary-aged Permaculture
Are you a homeschooling family who’d like to have your child engaged in a day of natural learning? Do you value the environment and your child learning to be self-sufficient? Would you like your child to be socialising with like-minded children? Do you believe children have a natural drive to learn and with guidance can design and create far beyond our expectations?
WHAT OUR COMMUNITY ARE SAYING...
OUR MISSION
Village Reconnected was born out of a desire to create the type of programs that we would want to send our own children to one day and a longing to feel like part of a village, a truly connected community. Our mission is to provide offerings that foster not only authentic learning experiences but experiences that bring joy and a sense of achievement and community to participants. We believe that the core skills of self awareness, self reliance and self responsibility are essential in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex world. We believe that the Permaculture ethics and design principles provide the perfect foundations from which to build our programs, to ensure our participants develop these skills.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Our philosophy values that each child is naturally inquisitive and wired to learn. They are each unique in their personality, unique in what they are naturally drawn towards and unique in the ways in which they learn. The outdoor learning environment fosters childrens' individuality. Through solution-focused, project-based learning, children are provided with plenty of opportunities for autonomy, choice and to make meaningful contributions to collective projects.
MEET ASH & NIGE
Hi, we’re Ash and Nige. The faces and family behind Village Reconnected. We are both qualified teachers with 20+ years of collective experience. Our hearts have always been in education. However, towards the end of our time teaching within a classroom setting, we were feeling burnt out, uninspired and wanted to believe there was another way to inspire and educate young people. We wanted to bring back the joy of learning and create programs in which we were eager to facilitate and children were equally eager to participate in. So, we left the classrooms behind us and created Village Reconnected.
Over the last 3 years we’ve run in person permaculture programs for children and it has been by far the most rewarding, enjoyable and successful experience of our careers to date. In 2024 on the Sunshine Coast, we were supporting 50 families, 64 children, across 4 days and had a waitlist of over 150 families. It was so very clear to us, that it wasn’t just us wanting to change the narrative around education, but rather a whole community of like minded families wanting the same!
We bring our hearts, curriculum and experience so we can spread this philosophy of educating young people and continue our mission to bring this into more families' lives. We are very much invested in the homeschooling community, as we too will be homeschooling our child in the near future! We know it takes a whole village to raise a child and our mission is to connect that Village.
If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, we welcome you with open arms!
Ash and Nige
Join Our Waitlist
FAQs
Who runs Village Reconnected?
Ash and Nige Foxton are the owners and educators at Village Reconnected.
Where is Village Reconnected located?
Village Reconnected is located in Eerwah Vale. This is on Gubbi Gubbi/ Kabi Kabi Country.
What age groups does Village Reconnected cater for?
Our Permaculture programs are available for children ranging from Kindergarten age (5) all the way through to Primary School students (12).
What qualifications do the educators have?
Both Ash and Nige are fully qualified and experienced teachers. Nige has also completed two Permaculture Design Courses (PDCs), as well as a Permaculture Internship.