About Us
Roots and Wings is a small team with a shared desire to provide New Earth alternative education. The project began one evening with a sharing of songs and visions in the Avalon Orchards and was created by Vanese Hawker, Cecilia De Martini and Iona Jones.
Roots and Wings is for children who want the freedom to explore the different aspects of who they are. Our curriculum prioritises meaningful connection with inner wisdom, nature, relationships, and the wider community. We educate using a child-led model and work creatively alongside our children offering support, guidance and modelling. Outside time, nature connection, and play are key elements in our approach.
Child friendly mindfulness is another core aspect of education at Roots and Wings. Each member of the team has personal experience of the transformative power of mindfulness. Decades of research shows that it can positively impact physical health, emotional resilience, mental clarity and enjoyment of life. We believe it is essential to offer this to our children.
Our passion at Roots and Wings is to provide a structure within which a child can blossom into their unique gifts, supporting their journey as empowered and resilient individuals, and leaders of the New Earth.
The team
katrina sech
Katrina is the Lead Space Holder for Roots and Wings and is one of our two educators. She is also a healer and therapist.
Since her teenage years, Katrina has always loved working with children and has found it a beautiful experience. It’s been a journey and a great learning curve. She has trained as a nursery nurse, has a Degree in English Literature and Writing for Performance, and she is a qualified teacher. She worked in a school for eleven happy years and then chose to leave, due to the changes in the education system. From there, she started to do supply teaching and set up her therapy business. The therapies she is trained in are Angelic Usui Reiki, Shamanic Healing, Swedish Massage, Aromatherapy Massage, Foot Reflexology, Angel Card Reader and is an Angelic Usui Reiki Master Teacher.
In her free time, she likes to read, travel and spend time in nature, where she can fully connect to her roots. She loves to visit her family and friends in Bolton, where she is originally from. She feels blessed to be part of this community and live in this magical place called Avalon.
Iona Jones
Iona is one of the co-founders of Roots and Wings and was inspired to start this project for her 8 year old son. She is passionate about giving him an alternative education - one which one which draws on the wisdom of the Earth and follows the rhythms and cycles of nature. She believes that meditation and mindfulness practices should be a core part of education, enabling children to become emotionally balanced individuals, who are connected to themselves and Mother Earth.
Iona is passionate about creating and supporting New Earth projects in Glastonbury, so we can create a nurturing world for ourselves and our children.
Iona is a visionary, creatrix, priestess, healer and therapist, and part of the Goddess Temple. She is in charge of bookings, promotions and finance.
Michelle read
Michelle is one of our educators and is a qualified Forest School Leader. She has been working with children in Home Education for about 5 years. Before working at Roots and Wings she was part of a local Home Education Woodland Group. Children are her inspiration and it is her dream to help children engage with nature. Her experience at Roots and Wings has been incredibly valuable. It has given her effective ways of leading and holding children in love, allowing them true expression of their thoughts and feelings, which in turns helps their growth, creativity, resilience and self confidence.
Michelle loves to sing and dance wherever she can. She has a deep love of horses and regularly spends time with a herd of thirteen. She feels very connected to them and loves their energies. She resonates with their qualities of sensitivity, intuition and power.
leanne Tandy
Leanne is the assistant for our older group. She is also a Mother, advanced Crystal Practitioner and Angel Healer.
From a very young age Leanne has been completey inspired by nature and the natrual world. She feels today's children are losing touch with the natural world and Mother Earth. This has led her to embark on a 2.5 year Forest School Leader course and a 1 year Foraging course. Her coal is to combine the two together and help reconnect children in the natural world by giving them independence to explore and grow.
The decision to home educate her 8 year old daughter has come after seeing how much the system has failed so many of today's children. She feels that mental health as well as personal creativity has been pushed aside to make way for future 'workers'.