About us
Who we are
Broadleaf is a committed community of home educators, who collectively run a Family Hub based in the heart of the New Forest. At Broadleaf, home educating parents come together to volunteer their time building and supporting the community we share.
Co-ordinated by a small team of Home Educating parents, we find and deliver exciting opportunities for our children through the connections we have worked hard to build with other organisations.
We are passionate about collaborative working and have had the joy of running projects alongside Turner Sims Theatre, South Bank Centre, Countryside Education Trust, BBC Gardener’s World, Hampshire Music Service, University of Southampton and many more.
We believe education should be joyful, inspiring and whole-human, and community is a central part of this worldview. Broadleaf is our supportive community, offering care, friendship and information from experienced HE families.
From history projects to Arts Awards and everything in between, we are led by the interests of our own children to create something magical for other home educating families to participate in.
Between us, we volunteer over 120 hours every week in order to create a space for our children and young people to access opportunities, friendship and community.
We invite other children, young people and parents to join us for the same exciting possibilities, encouraging them to become part of our welcoming community.
Our roots
We began as a home ed group in a village hall in 2010, running gentle, nurturing groups for children and their parents.
Over the years, Broadleaf has taken many forms, as it has grown to meet the changing needs of our own children and the local Home Educating community. We aim to model the strengths of home education and to provide opportunities not available elsewhere to children and young people outside of school.
We still base all our offerings on our neurodivergent-led, inclusive and consent-based foundations, maintaining the traditional Home Education ethos.
