Childlike wonder
It’s unusual to see a four-year-old stand still for long, but on this particular day he stood frozen to the spot. He crouched down, completely absorbed by something on the wall. As I got closer, I realised it wasn’t the wall that had captured his attention at all, but a tiny snail making its slow journey across it.
I have always loved childlike wonder, curiosity, play, experimenting. I remember my first proper job as a 19 year old working with the preschoolers in a nursery. It was delightful – hard work and patience stretching, but wonderful all the same. Children remind us to be curious, to look at the world in a renewed way, to be playful and to ask questions with no idea of where the answer would take us.
Training
I loved working in the nursery so much that I decided to train as a primary teacher. I completed a 4 year BA (HONS) with qualified teacher status, specialising in early years and I went on to teach in Bristol, New Zealand and Malawi. Those years gave me experience across very different communities and reinforced my belief that relationships are at the heart of learning.
At the beginning I absolutely loved my job, I loved the feeling of creating a community within my classroom, an extended family if you like. A place where the children in my care could feel safe, valued, heard, understood.
Pressure
Loving my job lasted for a little while, but I soon began to clash with the senior leaders in my school and feel the pressure of the system. I felt increasing expectations to teach in a certain way. I was seeing children who were struggling under this pressure and some who needed more time to question and explore ideas, and I felt less and less able to give them that. The more I tried to fit my teaching into the system, the further away I felt from the reasons I became a teacher in the first place.
Time and again, I saw children learn most deeply when they were curious, engaged and given the freedom to explore their own ideas. But when you start to question the system, you start to see that the environment doesn’t always support this way of learning, there is very little room for wonder, delight, play, experimenting – all the things we associate with childhood and learning. I began to realise that some children thrive in school environments, but others need something slower, gentler and more flexible.
Exploration
And so, I started to explore other approaches, I retrained as a childminder – the early years playful practitioner in me loved this and it meant I got to spend wonderful days with my own children too.
I then went on to work in a small and unique early years setting. But I missed the creativity of working with primary aged children, the brilliant thoughts they articulate and the brilliant stories they can create when given the time, support and space to do so.
People began to pop up in my life with stories of home education and close friends encouraged me to try again as a teacher. I began to imagine what learning could look like if children’s interests genuinely shaped the direction of their education.
New beginnings
And this was when Focus & Flourish Education started to emerge as an idea. I began to wonder what it would look like to create a small community for children who need a learning environment where curiosity, relationships and confidence can grow.
Many of the children I support have found school overwhelming, struggled with confidence, or simply thrive when learning can move at their pace. The sessions are interest led and held in a calm and nurturing space in my home. A session might begin with a story, a question, a game, a creative project or a child’s own interest. A question about snails might lead to drawing, storytelling, measuring, researching habitats or writing our own facts and observations. Children have the space and time to explore ideas, discuss their thoughts and be guided through their learning.
I currently work with children aged 4–11 in one-to-one, paired and small group sessions and it is a joy to learn alongside them, sometimes progress looks dramatic, and sometimes it looks like a child slowly rediscovering confidence in their own abilities. What I am realising now is that I am less of a teacher and more of a facilitator, co-investigator and explorer – sometimes also of snails!
Every child deserves the chance to learn in a way that helps them feel capable, curious and understood.
Because education is about far more than covering content. It’s about nurturing confidence, asking questions, making connections and discovering who you are.
And sometimes, it starts by stopping long enough to notice a snail and following the trail.
Kat Cooper is an experienced educator, tutor and founder of Focus and Flourish. After more than 20 years working with children and families in a variety of educational settings, she established Focus and Flourish in 2025 to create a warm, community-based space where learning is personalised, curiosity is encouraged and children can grow in confidence. Based in Bristol, Kat is passionate about helping young people discover the joy of learning through creativity, exploration and positive relationships.