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EquiScholars HQ
Supporting young people to feel safe, connected, and ready to learn.
We are passionate about helping children and young people (CYP) build resilience, confidence, and emotional regulation so they can successfully transition back into their educational and community environments. Our trauma-aware work is grounded in neuroscience, polyvagal theory, and attachment theory, ensuring an approach that prioritises safety, connection, and emotional well-being.
By working with horses using evidence-based behavioural principles within a trauma-aware framework, we create meaningful learning experiences that build trust, co-regulation, and personal growth. Through equine-assisted learning and outdoor experiential activities, we empower CYP to develop essential life skills, rediscover their strengths, and feel safe, supported, and prepared for the future.
EquiScholars & EquiSchools Alternative Provision
Our trauma-aware alternative provision is designed to re-engage children and young people (CYP) who are struggling in mainstream education. A structured, trauma-aware education programme built around our EquiScholars and EquiSchools curriculum, it is delivered through 1:1 support and small group learning. Sessions combine equine-assisted learning, outdoor activities, and nervous system regulation strategies, helping CYP re-engage with education in a safe, relational environment.
EquiSchools is a key component of this provision — a neuroscience-informed curriculum that blends theory with hands-on, academic learning. CYP explore structured topics such as equine anatomy, sensory systems, behaviour and communication, digestive health, and movement science. Through debates, journal work, scientific observation, and reflective writing, learners develop literacy, communication, critical thinking, and reasoning skills in a practical and meaningful context. These academic components are embedded within experiential activities to support engagement, retention, and confidence in learning.
Transition is at the heart of what we do. Our goal is to work alongside each CYP, their families, and professionals to prepare for, facilitate, and support a successful reintegration back into education — whether that’s school, college, or another appropriate setting. We aim to build emotional resilience, confidence, and learning readiness so that CYP can return to education equipped with the tools they need to cope, connect, and thrive.
Each CYP receives personalised support while also benefiting from shared experiences that build social confidence and collaborative skills. Reflective learning and emotional development activities help CYP build trust, self-awareness, and regulation. This provision is aligned with Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework and includes regular termly reports, ensuring meaningful, outcomes-focused progress and consistent communication with all involved.
Equicollege (Post-16 Education & Engagement Programme)
Equicollege is a trauma-aware, relationship-led education and engagement programme for young people aged 16–25 (with flexible entry from 14+), designed for those with EHCP/EOTAS or who are unable to access traditional education due to anxious experiences, trauma, neurodivergence, or emotional-based school avoidance (EBSA). Delivered in a therapeutic equine environment, the programme combines academic development, emotional regulation, and life readiness within a highly supportive and relational framework.
Students are supported through a blend of 1:1 and small group mentoring and structured group classroom learning. This approach enables each learner to work at their own pace while developing the confidence, communication skills, and relational capacity needed to participate in a collaborative learning environment. Group sessions promote a sense of belonging and shared experience, while individual sessions allow for tailored academic and emotional support.
Learners engage in project-based academic activities including functional literacy, research, debate, presenting, and critical thinking. The curriculum is aligned with EHCP outcomes and the Preparing for Adulthood framework. Emotional and sensory regulation is supported through polyvagal-informed, body-based practices and regular interaction with horses.
As part of our commitment to broadening horizons and building aspirational pathways, learners also benefit from regular sessions with visiting industry professionals — such as veterinary physiotherapists, farriers, equine behaviourists, and welfare specialists. Off-site visits to professional environments provide valuable real-world context and help learners make meaningful connections between their education and future opportunities.
Equicollege nurtures autonomy, builds academic and relational confidence, and helps learners prepare for further education, employment, or supported adulthood. Modules such as “Foundations of Self & Learning,” “Equine Behaviour,” and “Anatomy & Nervous System Awareness” enable students to make meaningful links between theory, self-awareness, and personal growth. Progress is tracked through individual learning plans, reflective journals, and internal portfolios, with regular reviews and reports supporting long-term transition and success.
Creative Writing Alternative Provision
Our Creative Writing Alternative Provision Sessions with children’s writer Emma Bettridge, nurture literacy while supporting the whole child through a trauma-aware, nature-connected, and animal-partnered approach.
In a calm and safe environment, learners explore storytelling and self-expression at their own pace. Drawing inspiration from nature, animals, and animal partnered experiences, children and young people strengthen their literacy and develop emotional intelligence, resilience, and a deeper sense of connection.
The programme integrates:
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Literacy Development – building vocabulary, verbal processing, and written expression through playful, engaging activities.
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Creative Exploration – weaving animals, nature, and storytelling to revive imagination, curiosity, and joy in learning.
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Skill Building – strengthening fine and gross motor skills essential for writing, supported by movement-based and sensory activities.
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Emotional Safety – mistakes are reframed as essential steps in learning, encouraging resilience and self-belief.
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Mindfulness & Nature Connection – outdoor sessions, animal interactions, and reflective practices to support regulation, creativity, and inspiration.
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Portfolio Evidence – a tangible record of progress and creative growth, celebrating both literacy and personal development.
Our approach draws on polyvagal-informed practice, attachment-aware mentoring, and co-regulation techniques to ensure learners feel truly seen, heard, and supported.
Early Intervention Programme (EIP)
Our Early Intervention Programme is a 16 week 1:1, trauma-aware mentoring journey designed to support children and young people (CYP) who are experiencing emotional overwhelm, anxious experiences, school-based distress, or relational withdrawal. Grounded in polyvagal theory and neuroscience, the EIP helps CYP build the skills and emotional literacy needed to understand themselves, manage stress, and begin their journey back to engagement with learning and life.
The programme combines therapeutic mentoring, equine-assisted experiences, and body-based regulation practices. CYP are supported to explore how their nervous system responds to stress and safety, develop co-regulation strategies, and begin forming secure, trust-based relationships. Using practical tools like breathwork, movement, rhythm, play, and metaphor, sessions guide young people to create a deeper understanding of their emotional world.
Each session is structured to promote safety, curiosity, and reflection. Themes include emotional regulation, attachment, resilience, and identity development, delivered through gentle, relational, and sensory-based interactions with both people and animals.
The EIP is a compassionate container where growth can begin. Progress is mapped using a structured outcome framework, and support extends beyond the sessions to include liaison with families, schools, and professionals. The goal is always to help CYP move toward reconnection: with themselves, with others, and with education—at a pace that feels safe and sustainable.
1:1 Trauma-Aware Yoga & Somatic Regulation Sessions
These open-ended one-to-one sessions are designed to help CYP develop a more regulated and adaptable nervous system. Through trauma-aware movement, breathwork, and somatic practices, learners explore their internal landscape and increase interoceptive awareness. These sessions offer space to map the autonomic nervous system, supporting both up- and down-regulation as needed. The work promotes emotional resilience, body-mind integration, and supports CYP to engage more fully with learning and everyday life.
Contact US
EquiScholars HQ
Milverton Meadows
Station Road
Milverton
Taunton
Somerset
TA4 1DB
For more information simply send us an email at office@equischolarshq.com or give us a call on 07803407683
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