Glantawe Outdoor Education Academy practitioners bring with them a wide range of experience in teaching and education and hold relevant qualifications in their specialist areas. All our practitioners have a Level 3 Award in Education and Training and are all DBS checked and First Aid qualified.
Most importantly our practitioners bring with them their passion for their subjects and the belief that learning should be an engaging, enjoyable and positive process. There are many different ways that people learn and our mission is to be creative and open minded so that we can identify individual learning styles.
Our Practitioners
Robert Clapham
Rob is an experienced outdoor practitioner with extensive experience and knowledge in designing and delivering nationally accredited and certified courses for outdoor professionals. He is a qualified Mountain Leader who has travelled extensively throughout Europe, Morocco, Nepal, the Americas and Iraq. He believes that young people can achieve their potential through outdoor education and adventure, which can provide learners with new skills, qualifications and real life experience – leading to rich and satisfying lives.
Suzanne Chapple
As a teacher, Suzanne combines her passion for the outdoors with other skills. She has years of experience of working with children, young people and adults with a variety of needs, running creative classes, events and outdoor sessions. Through her work she aims to empower the individual by assisting them in drawing out their unique potential and building confidence. Besides the creative arts, she also has a passion for stories and the sense of wonder they inspire, she weaves this into her outdoor sessions. She also holds an honours degree in modern languages, a teaching qualification, a diploma in Art & Design and is a qualified children’s yoga teacher.
Eleanor Flaherty
Eleanor is a photographer, artist and documentary film maker who has extensive experience of teaching people of all ages in creative media and she holds a MA in Media Production. She is a qualified Mountain Leader and regularly takes groups into the upland areas to experience this environment whilst learning about its geology, geography, wildlife and mythology. She is an Expedition Leader and has led groups in the UK and abroad in Nepal, Tanzania and Morocco. She also works with myth, storytelling and mask-work drawing from her experience in theatre and performing arts.
Jody James
Jody grew up roaming around the North Norfolk countryside. After discovering Richard Mabey’s book ‘Food for free’ on her parents bookshelf and a field of horse mushrooms in a hidden pasture, her lifelong connection to the earth and it’s generosity was sealed. She went on to study herbal medicine at university, gaining a Bsc (hons) in 2001 alongside her third generation herbal husband, with whom she works in The Herbal Clinic, Swansea. She has worked closely with children for a number of years teaching nutrition and has a qualification in counselling for children, using play therapy style techniques with young people struggling with emotional concerns.
Alun Wynn Evans
Alun is a local artist who has been teaching arts and crafts since 1972. He is a qualified Master Craftsman, specialising in furniture making, wood and stone carving and sculpture using a wide range of materials. Alun is also a Master of the Decorative Arts, specialising in techniques including gilding, marbling and graining. Alun is also a qualified teacher, and has worked in all aspects of adult learning, students ranging from serving prisoners, YMCA, MIND to women’s groups. He specialises in the fields of learning disability and brain injury, working in both one to one and group settings.
Helen Grey
Helen has a passion for being outdoors and facilitating enjoyable educational experiences in nature – from geocaching to hedgelaying. She believes that we can learn as much about ourselves as our environment from a day spent playing, walking, learning, doing, or simply being in wild and natural green spaces. Helen likes to embrace a playful and enthusiastic approach to being outside and, whether gazing up through the canopy of a forest or after a day’s hedge laying, it is her aim that your experience has been rewarding and memorable. Helen has worked in the environmental field for 20 years and has specialised in community engagement and nature conservation.
Emma North
Having worked extensively with groups of all ages and abilities Emma believes that developing a sense of connection with nature and the outdoor environment is an essential part of our health and well being. She believes that outdoor education can act as a powerful vehicle in the development of people’s potential, enabling them to acquire transferrable skills and empowering them to achieve. Emma is a qualified Forest School leader and has a diverse range of skills and experience. Keen to inspire, she shares the passion and vision of the team that the natural environment has enjoyable, memorable and rewarding experiences for all of us just waiting to be discovered.
