Holly Staniford

An inspirational speaker, author and founder of Fish in a Tree. Holly will impassion and empower you to take learning outdoors and reap the benefits!

Holly is passionate about the outdoors and the impact of the natural world on imagination, storytelling, well-being and personalised, meaningful learning. She believes that children's learning flourishes when it is experiential, meaningful, multi-sensory and fun.

In an increasingly crowded timetable, Holly opens up possibilities for how outdoor experiences can be integrated into everyday literacy practice, regardless of setting, and offers practical ideas and suggestions of how this can be achieved. She illustrates the effect that outdoor experiences have on imagination, language, confidence, positivity, writing impact and so much more besides.

Holly has been involved in education since qualifying as a teacher in 2002. She played a key role in powering the transformation of a failing school, led by Richard Gerver, and the development of a brand new, innovative curriculum. The school is featured in Sir Ken Robinson's bestselling book: The Element, and Richard Gerver's bestselling book: Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today.

During this time, she became an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) in creative thinking and learning skills, acting as a consultant and mentor for fellow professionals and delivering workshops and training throughout Derbyshire, with outdoor learning always being a key factor in her practice. She gained a reputation for her ability to inspire and motivate disengaged children to write. She also had a short stint of working alongside Sir Ken Robinson to develop a new curriculum, based on child-led learning journeys. This experience had an enormous impact on her practice.

In 2015, Holly founded a successful business called, Fish in a Tree, where she delivers training and works outdoors with children and young adults, promoting creative, experiential learning.

She has written blogs for a range of organisations dedicated to outdoor learning, including The Wild Network and has had her work published in an anthology. She is also the author of, 'Deep in the Whispering Woods: An imagination journal for storytellers,' published by Sojo and Mouse.