Charlotte Church Opens Forest School for Children With Anxiety and School Refusal

Charlotte Church, best known for her operatic voice and subsequent pop career, has turned her attention to education, opening what she calls the Awen Project in the Rhondda valley of South Wales — an outdoor learning space designed for children who are not coping in traditional school settings.

The project, which Church has been quietly developing for three years, runs small-group sessions in woodland areas, combining nature activities with informal literacy and numeracy work. It targets children between the ages of seven and fourteen who have been classified as persistent school absentees.

School absence rates in Wales hit a record high in 2024-25, with more than one in eight pupils missing at least 10 per cent of sessions. Anxiety and mental health difficulties account for the largest share of long-term absences, according to Welsh Government data.

Church, who is also a mental health campaigner, said in an interview that she became aware of the problem through parents in her local community. The project currently works with fifteen children and is funded through a combination of Welsh Government grants and donations. Church hopes to expand to a second site by spring 2027.