Donations

Urban Forest Tribe (UFT)

September 23, 2025By

Making nature accessible for SEND children

Urban Forest Tribe (UFT)’s mission is to make outdoor learning and nature connection accessible to all, regardless of background or ability – nurturing individuals and strengthening families and communities.
Firmly rooted in Forest School philosophy, and based in north London, they have a particular focus on those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The Trustees of the Axis Foundation were delighted to support their application with a donation of £3,500 to meet the costs of the sensory and interactive features for their scheme at Bridge School. This scheme will rewild and enhance a green space here, introducing a wide range of accessible, features specifically designed for SEND children.
“We’re over the moon to hear that we’ve been awarded a grant of £3,500 to support the sensory features at The Bridge School site. This funding will make a real difference in helping us create a more inclusive and nurturing outdoor space for the children we work with” – Paula Harvey Founder and Executive Director
There is more about Urban Forest Tribe here
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two children with school bellDisability

Christ Church CofE Primary School, Greenwich

September 23, 2025By

Funding an accessible toilet for SEND children

Christ Church CofE Primary School (Parents and Friends Association) applied to the Axis Foundation for help converting an outdated toilet block into a much-needed sensory room and wheelchair-accessible toilet.

The school (which is located in Greenwich, south east London) supports 210 pupils – 62 of whom are on the SEND Register, including 11 children with EHCPs. As there is no dedicated quiet or sensory space currently on site, the new facilities will provide vital support for children with additional needs.

The Trustees of the Axis Foundation were delighted to help the school fit out the specialist bathroom with a donation of £4,000.

“Wow — thank you so much! We are absolutely thrilled to have your support. The Axis Foundation’s generous donation towards our sensory room and accessible toilet is about so much more than bricks and mortar — it’s a promise to our pupils that their needs truly matter. This funding means that every child at Christ Church will have access to a safe, inclusive space to learn, regulate, and thrive — a space that will champion inclusivity for generations to come” – Laura Simpson, Deputy Head and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

There’s more about the Christ Church CofE Primary School here

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Donations

Hackney School of Food

March 12, 2025By

Nutrition and food growing education supports community and wellbeing and combats food poverty

Hackney School of Food is an award-winning food education hub equipping children, families and the community with the knowledge and skills to cook and grow nutritious food, improving health and well-being and combating food poverty.

The Trustees of the Axis Foundation were delighted to support them with a donation of £1,200 to purchase kitchen equipment including a fridge, dishwasher, cutlery and plates for their new Garden Room where they’ll deliver food and food-growing education to children, families and vulnerable people in their local area. The new space will also be a hub for community events and meals, helping to bring together the local community around delicious, healthy meals.

“Your donation will help us continue to empower our community by building lifelong cooking and food growing skills to combat food poverty and foster a healthier future. The new Garden Room we are opening in March will be a unique place for children in Hackney, and this support is helping us to build happier, healthier lives. Thank you” – Zoe McIntyre, General Manager

More about Hackney School of Food

In 2023-2024, Hackney School of Food welcomed 7,097 visits to its teaching kitchen and gardens, partnering with 58 schools and 20 community groups.
Hackney School of Food delivers a range of activities including curriculum-linked cooking classes for schools, afterschool and holiday provision, community adult classes and events.
They have won many prestigious awards including Civic Trust National Award 2021, Hackney Design Award for Inclusivity in Design 2021 and RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize 2022 for their innovation and contribution to the community.

There’s more here

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Donations

Wildgoose Rural Training

December 17, 2024By

New classroom supports activities for disadvantaged adults and children

Wildgoose Rural Training provides activities for disabled adults and children who struggle with the normal education system and those facing problems with their mental health.

In 2023, the Trustees of the Axis Foundation awarded the Worcester based charity £10,000 to help build a new classroom.

The new classroom helped Wildgoose to expand its services and benefit a larger number of individuals in the local community and across Worcestershire.

 “Big thanks to Axis for supporting this project which has made a huge difference to our staff and students” –  Karen McConnell, Development Officer

And in 2024, the Foundation made a further award of £5,914 to build a new barn containing two new classrooms and a storage area. The extra classrooms mean an additional 14 students per day can join in the activities on offer.

More about Wild Goose

Wild Goose offers activities like agriculture, woodwork, mechanics, horticulture, animal husbandry, nature reserve management, cookery and a workstream program learning invaluable practical skills.

Through taking part in various activities students advance in the capacity and the skills required to support a more independent lifestyle.

There’s more here

 

 

 

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Donations

Make Them Smile

July 25, 2024By

Specialist equipment

Make Them Smile supports children who have a wide range illnesses, some terminal, as well as those who are deaf, blind or underprivileged/ poverty-stricken.

The Axis Foundation donated £4,259 to help Make Them Smile purchase specialist equipment for Priory School, an SEN school for boys and girls with severe learning difficulties and autism.

“Thank you for informing me that the Axis Foundation has awarded Make Them Smile a significant grant for five rocking chairs, sensory equipment, gardening tools, and 10 IPads for Priory School in Upper Norwood. The school was absolutely delighted to hear this. Having personally visited Priory and several other SEN schools we’ve assisted, I know firsthand how they teach, and the impact these items will have on the school and its children. Once again a great big thank you to all at The Axis Foundation from Priory School, their teachers, 139 pupils, and all at Make Them Smile” –  Robert Adams, Make Them Smile’s Grant Officer

We purchased:

  • 5 Zuma BraceRock chairs (which help children to stay alert and pay attention)
  • Sensory equipment (to help children with their visual, auditory, and tactile processing, as well as fine and gross motor skills)
  • Gardening implements (so more pupils can enjoy the school’s outside gardening area)
  • Ipads which be used by the school’s speech and language therapists.

“We are delighted, especially about having the Ipads now, as we desperately need them. It will make a huge difference for the children here. Would you also forward our deepest gratitude to the Axis Foundation for this wonderful gesture?” – Ms Wendt, Occupational Therapist, the Priory School

More about Make Them Smile here

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Donations

The Garden Classroom

July 25, 2024By

Specialist equipment helps SEN kids re-connect with nature

The Garden Classroom (TGC) is a multi-award winning charity dedicated to reconnecting people with nature.

The Axis Foundation donated £2,008 to enable the Islington-based charity to purchase equipment for Hobbs Hill, their site for day trips and multi-night camping. Hobbs Hill (in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) is designed to offer urban children a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in nature.

We enabled the charity to purchase SEN resources for an autistic safe space on the campsite and a 6-person hammock, both of which will help reduce sensory overload and provide a calm, relaxing environment. And we also provided funds for top-up tools (essential for hands-on activities like bushcraft and den building) and a tarpaulin to safely cover the fire circle and provide shade for eating and cooking.

“Your donation is going to make a huge difference to our facilities on camp, especially for those children with Special Educational Needs. Your support will help us provide inclusive and accessible access to enriching, life-changing experiences for nature-deprived children, with impact extending well beyond their enjoyment of the camp itself.

“Our aim is always to create a deep connection with nature that can resonate throughout the lives of those taking part: and we couldn’t do this without your help – thank you!” – Millie Darling, Director of Countryside Programmes

The Axis Foundation’s donation will benefit over 200 children and their teachers who visit the campsite each year.

In a later report, Millie added: “Our Countryside team here at The Garden Classroom have just finished delivering a hugely successful year of camping residentials during which they spent down all of the generous grant received from The Axis Foundation in 2024.

I hope that our report provides an inspiring picture of the way that our camps have supported disadvantaged urban children over the past two years, especially those with SEND and sensory challenges.  We could not have done this without your generosity – thank you.”

There’s more about The Garden Classroom here

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Donations

Free to Be Kids

July 25, 2024By

Transformative mental health support via the outdoors

Free to Be Kids transforms the mental health of disadvantaged London children via outdoor experiences including the 5−day residential Thrive Outside project. Here children meet animals at the farm, build dens in the woods, cook together and camp under the stars. Most projects are based at Cudham Environmental Activities Centre in Kent, owned by Free to Be Kids’ charity partner the Woodcraft Folk.

Each year, Free to Be Kids runs 25 such residential breaks supporting around 400 children most of whom have never left their corner of London.

The Axis Foundation was delighted donate £7,993 to pay for the materials for a new storage facility at Cudham. This took the form of a weather-proof, insulated and secure storage shipping container.

“Simply put, without your support, we may not have been able to continue using Cudham. All of our project equipment (bedding, sports, cooking, outdoor activity equipment) had been stacked to the roof in a tiny storeroom which we were no longer able to use.

“We would need to reduce child place numbers by 30% annually, meaning c120 vulnerable children would have no access to transformative mental health support via the outdoors that we offer” – Mike Gee, Free to Be Kids CEO

And our Axis Apprentices install the storage container!

Axis’ apprentices cleared the land and laid the foundations for the shipping container, then weatherproofing it and connecting it to power. They fitted out the inside with shelving and waterproof crates for storage. And they also then fenced it in, to make sure the new storage facility was secure, and put in some attractive planting too.

More about Free to Be Kids

Winners of London Youth’s ‘Adventure Charity of the Year’ (2022) and ‘Outdoor Education’ (2019), Free to Be Kids supports children in Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Bromley who experience multi-factor harm, including parental addiction, neglect, abuse, poverty and homelessness, resulting in significant emotional/behavioral difficulties affecting mental health. There’s more about their work offering transformative mental health support via the outdoors here

And you can read more about the Cudham Centre on the Woodcraft Folk’s website here

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Three little children planting lettucesDonations

The Visionaries 

January 31, 2024By

Creating hands-on outdoor learning space for children

The Visionaries help children, young people and educators to connect with nature. Whilst open to all, they focus on supporting young and marginalised people and those facing challenging transitions. The social enterprise is based at School 360 in Stratford, east London, near to Axis’ head office.

The Axis Foundation agreed to donate £9,500 towards buying raised beds and 50 fruit trees to help with the rewilding of School 360’s outdoor space. The overall scheme will serve as a hands-on, learning space fostering environmental consciousness and creating stronger connections to nature.

“Thank you so much. This will make a huge difference to the project. We are re-imagining the school’s grounds, to enhance the school community’s nature connectedness. This funding will contribute towards the rewilding of the school’s outdoor spaces, creating a dynamic environment that brings people together, improves community well-being, and supports the potential of the students”  – Max Girardeau, Director

More about The Visionaries Education CIC

The Visionaries is a not-for-profit social enterprise. They partner with schools, universities and other educational institutions to produce transformative nature-based programmes and adapt their learning environments to be more ‘nature connected’.  Through participating in their programmes, youths and adults report discovering a greater sense of purpose and belonging, feeling more hopeful and more equipped to create the future we know we need to live sustainably on the planet.

More here

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Donations

Adult Training Network

January 29, 2024By

Resourcing Digital Learning for disadvantaged people

Adult Training Network (ATN) provides education, training and employability skills to disadvantaged people.

The Axis Foundation donated £2,500 so ATN could purchase an interactive whiteboard to facilitate digital learning at their Training Centre in Southall, west London.

“The integration of the smart board in the classroom was very impressive. Not only did the use of this interactive technology keep the students engaged but … learners were evidently more focussed, thanks to the visually appealing content that was presented to them in an engaging way.

“It has changed the traditional lesson and made it more participatory and fun.

“Overall, the interactive white board been very useful, both for tutors and students, who have been very excited about the new method of learning. This innovative approach to teaching has set a high standard for interactive pedagogy” – Sarjeet Singh Gill, Managing Director (from Impact Report provided to the Trustees of the Axis Foundation)

More about ATN

Adult Training Network Limited was founded in 1999 to help the most disadvantaged members of the community access mainstream education. Many are referred to the charity by their local Job Centre.

The charity unlocks marginalised learners’ potential for employment and social connection through education, training, employability support and links to job opportunities. They offer a wide range of in-person and online accredited courses as well as vocational qualifications and apprenticeships.

ATN’s BAME, migrant and refugee learners (many of whom have South-Asian backgrounds and/or are from Syria or Ukraine) hail from highly deprived wards and have low English, literacy and numeracy levels.

There’s more here

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Donations

Chance for a Future for Esmay

December 19, 2023By

Chance for education – and a future – for Esmay

Following young Esmay’s diagnoses of autism, dyslexia and Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), and her mother’s application to the Axis Foundation, the Trustees agreed to donate £870 to fund a private Occupational Therapy (OT) referral to progress Esmay’s Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) submission.

The long-term impact of our donation will be Esmay’s successful secondary education providing her with options for a future career.

“We literally can’t thank you enough, it is going to make such an impact for us. Without her EHCP in place, moving to further education will be a difficult transition for Esmay and she will struggle whilst waiting for an OT assessment” – Zarah, Esmay’s mother

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