Mission
Hawthorn Small School is not open. It is expected that we will open as a school in September 2026.
Our mission is to be a sustainable community for progressive, autonomous, human-scale education that nurtures and develops students inclusively; co-creating personalised learning that inspires a life of wonder and success.
Our school
What does the mission mean?
We are very purposeful about how we use language and so every word of our mission is chosen and intended. Whilst we know exactly what we mean by the terms, we think it is super important that toys know exactly what we mean.
A sustainable community
We want this community to be one that lasts for decades and beyond, and is a consistent presence. We want it to continue to work and be a fantastic learning space long after we have passed it into other capable hands. To us sustainable also means that we make a positive impact on the world as much as possible and at least we minimise any negative impact we have in doing what we do.
Progressive, autonomous, human-scale education
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Co-creating personalised learning
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A life of wonder and success
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Vision
Our vision is to fulfil our mission by creating a small independent school that caters holistically to the diverse needs of students, in the New Forest area. EHCP provision will be possible for Hampshire, Dorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, and potentially other local authorities. To meet the needs of those students we will offer an alternative style of education centred around our values and guiding principles. Our ultimate vision is for this provision to encompass students from 5 to 16 years of age at Hawthorn Small School, and to expand to supporting the set-up and running of other similar small schools in the UK.
There are steps and stages to our growth to this position.
Stage 1: Opening Hawthorn Learning (part-time, flexible learning)
Opening in September 2023, this alternative provision offers enhanced education, learning and support, on a part-time basis, for home-educated students and their families, particularly those with neurodivergences or school anxiety. This alternative and flexible provision will be a professionally facilitated consent-based learning provision. This will initially be for on pod (Branch pod) of 11-16 year olds.
During the rest of our week, we will be developing our school before it opens, including: securing land, building our site, registering with Ofsted, and building our unique curriculum. Our school will not be open at this stage.
Stage 2: Hawthorn Learning expansion (part-time, flexible learning)
From September 2024 Hawthorn Learning will have two pods: one for 8-11 year olds (Twig) and another for 12-16 years olds (Branch). In April 2025 we will expand again to three pods: Sprout pod (5-7 years), Twig pod (8-11 years) and Branch pod (12-16 years). Our school will not be open at this stage.
Stage 3: Opening as a School
Our intention is to initially open as a registered school with nine pods in September 2026. The structure is as follows:
The first three pods make up our lower school and are available as 3,4 or 5 day options. They are Seed pod (3-5 years), Sprout pod (5 to 7 years), and Twig pod (8-10 years). Branch pod (11-16 years) will continue as the flexible option for the higher school years, offering places for 2,3 and 4 days per week. The upper full-time school is made up of Bud pod (11-12 years), Leaf pod (12-13 years), Thorn pod (13-14 years), Berry pod (14-15 years) and Harvest pod (15-16 years).
Stage 4: Progression
One year after opening our school, an additional pod group will open for 16-19 year olds to allow our students to progress.
Stage 5: Professional training, other schools and bursaries
After several years of embedding the growth of Hawthorn Small School we hope to share our expertise with other passionate people to create provision like ours in other locations in the UK.
