Pet Grooming by Kirsty

Nu is a qualified art teacher who spent three years in mainstream education. She adored her pupils and loved teaching art, but the pressure of the system meant she couldn’t show up for them the way she wanted to. So she left, and spent the next part of her career mentoring children who, for all sorts of reasons, weren’t able to access mainstream education.

 

That work changed her. She saw first-hand how easily children can slip through the gaps of a system that wasn’t built to fit everyone, and it planted a dream: to create a space where every child and every family belongs. Somewhere they can just be themselves.

 

Elliot is a musician and creative practitioner who brings just as much energy to the sessions as the children do. Guitar in hand or in full play mode, he’s completely in the moment with them. Both Nu and Elliot are neurodivergent themselves, and that shared understanding shapes everything about what they’ve built together.

 

The two of them have been visiting Glebe Farm every year to celebrate Nu’s birthday since moving to Congleton in 2022. So when the time came to find a home for their idea, this was the only place that ever felt right.

 

Gather & Grow is a child-led creative arts and play-based space for children who are home educated or not in mainstream education, aged 4 to 16. Sessions include drop off, parent and child, Elliot’s very popular guitar and music lessons, after school Arty Club for ages 5 to 9, Self Love & Creative Club for girls aged 9 to 16, and bespoke one-to-one SEND sessions built entirely around the child, with the time and space to build a real, trusting relationship at their own pace.