Welcome to our quarterly newsletter for Our Free Minds’ members and their families.
Staffing Change
Hannah has let us know that she will be stepping back from her role as a facilitator at Our Free Minds at the end of the Jan-Feb term. This has not been an easy decision, and it reflects Hannah’s need to focus on other commitments.
Hannah has been a deeply valued part of Our Free Minds since the very beginning. She brings warmth, creativity, steadiness and care to everything she does, and she has had a meaningful impact on many children and families. We know that this news will be felt by the community, and we understand that change can feel unsettling.
We want to reassure families that our focus is on supporting a calm and well-held transition. We are currently working carefully on the recruitment for a new facilitator. We are committed to finding someone who shares Our Free Minds’ values and approach, who will become another much valued member of our community.
We are hopeful that Hannah will remain connected to OFM in some capacity, and we will share more about this in due course when plans are confirmed.
Two Days A Week
We are transitioning towards a commitment of two sessions a week minimum from our members. While we love our members whether they attend one, two or three sessions a week, we have always been aware of the issues we encounter when many of our members attend only one day a week. For instance, when we make an agreement on Tuesday, we’ll need to communicate that to members who come only on Wednesday, then to those on Thursday. The members who attend three days a week often find it frustrating that they have to sit through the same discussion three times. Aside from that, having different members on different days in general gives rise to more administrative work, which we are keen to minimise given our limited human resources.
Attendance for multiple days has always been our goal. This helps create a stronger sense of community for our members. Members attending multiple days per week have more time to work on projects, experience friendships, and understand the dynamics of being in a community.
While we feel strongly that this change is positive for Group and sincerely hope affected families will be able to adapt to it, we understand it may also present challenges. To support the transition, we delay implementation for existing members until September 2026.
For existing members who attend one day a week, you are welcome to sign up for an additional day any time between now and September. If at the moment of signing up, the space on the additional day is not available, the member may continue attending one day, and join our waiting list and add the second day once it becomes available.
Bookings on a Whole Term Basis
From September 2026, we will operate on a whole term, block-booking basis only. Families will need to commit to their preferred block booking arrangement for the whole term.
For example, a family would need to book for an entire term even if, say, they might miss one week due to a holiday booking. While we appreciate this means less flexibility, it does introduce much-needed simplicity as well as reduce bureaucracy. This will help us focus our time and resources on the members, and will also help us keep the fee unchanged at £27 per session.
Location
The charity which manages the site (which used to be Wendy's Café) in Great Bedwyn decided to rent the site to another business.
A member’s parent has recently informed us that there is some land in Inkpen that we could view. We will investigate if this is a potential site for OFM.
We truly appreciate it if anyone would keep an eye out (and spread the word) for a potential site for us. This is the one thing we really need to make it possible for OFM to further grow and thrive.
Ofsted Registration
We are getting Our Free Minds ready for the Ofsted registration process. This decision has been made between us and our Trustees thoughtfully and with the children’s best interests at heart. We believe it is a wise and forward-looking step that prepares us for any changes the Schools Bill may bring, and ensures our setting continues to thrive.
There will be no noticeable change to your child’s day-to-day experience at Group. Our ethos, approaches and the activities we offer will remain the same.
We will update you when we submit our application. We reassure you that throughout the registration process - and at all times - we fully comply with GDPR requirements.
Movie Matinee - 11th Feb Weds
We will stay after the session on Wednesday 11th February to watch a film together. We are gauging interest in a poll to decide which film to go for. We will have hot chocolate and pop corn ready but you are welcome to bring your own snacks!
Activities in review
We had a fun and eventful Q4 last year! Anoushka invited her friend Natalie to come to Group for a skills share session in November - throwing clay on the pottery wheel! Natalie is based in West Grafton and has been teaching pottery art in her studio.
We also organised a number of family activities in the last quarter: A family walk in Lydiard Park in Swindon, a Halloween party, a visit to We the Curious museum in Bristol, and a Christmas show and party to wrap up the last term in 2025.
Grant Application
We have been awarded a token-voting box at Tesco Superstore on Salisbury Road, Marlborough! We have applied for funds to buy woodworking tools for our members: from whittling knives, saws, woodbench, to some line and block printing tools and a printing press - depending on how many votes we receive. If any of you shop there, or drive past and could pop in to Tesco, please put as many tokens into the box for Our Free Minds! The vote will last until 31st March.
Now that we have two annual reports available, OFM will hopefully meet the criteria of more grant applications. If you come across any grants which seem suitable for OFM, please get in touch with David Norris (at danorris14@gmail.com), who will see if we are eligible for the application.
Fund Raised
After paying the theatre who came to perform the Christmas show for us, we raised £70 for OFM.
On the Fireworks Night on 1st November 2025, we helped with the barbecue and the sweet stall, and that raised £346.83 for Group. We are grateful for all the families who volunteered to help and who came to be part of it!
We are keen to explore more fundraising opportunities for the year 2026. If you have any ideas please let us know.
Easyfundraising
If you are about to book your holiday, renew your insurance or make any big purchase, don’t forget to check if there is a good donation amount with easyfundraising first. Sometimes there'll be a cash donation available if you book with a particular retailer.
If you haven’t done so yet, please sign up to our easyfundraising page and choose OFM as your cause. It’s simple and FREE. Many retailers you already use take part, like John Lewis, Argos, Tesco, Uswitch, Just Eat, Wayfair and GoCompare. Please also share the link with your friends - https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/our-free-minds/.
Wishlist on Amazon
For people who prefer to donate goods rather than cash, we created a "wishlist" on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1615ZBX7SL27B/ref=hz_ls_biz_ex . Please share it with family or friends, or donate something yourselves. Thank you!
New Information on website
We compiled a Welcome Pack for newly joined families, which is available on the top of this page (https://ourfreeminds.org/for-current-parents). It contains an updated version of the parent agreement which explains how Our Free Minds works, e.g. how learning happens at Group, how conflicts are resolved etc. It is a useful resource not only for new families but for you all too.
We submitted our second annual report to the Charity Commission. Both our annual reports are available at the end of this page https://ourfreeminds.org/mission-and-policies.
We have reviewed and updated several policies. As always you can find up-to-date versions of all our policies on our website.
Board of Trustees
We are recruiting for one more trustee or task force leader: especially those who are able to specialise in finding investors to support us in our hunt for a permanent home. Please contact us at info@ourfreeminds.org if you would like to be considered for any of these positions.
Help Appreciated!
Apart from the above official roles, there are endless other ways you can help us, e.g. offering skill share sessions, administration, marketing, financial advice, legal advice, provision of storage for our resources, fundraising, looking for a permanent location or other resources, business management… If you are (or if you know anyone who is) happy to contribute, please get in touch!
Term Dates
Our term dates for the rest of the year are ready! You will find them on the Community calendar on Google. We have also listed the dates out here. We will adhere to these dates as much as possible, unless there are unforeseen circumstances.