Progressive headteacher Mike Fairclough who grew up in the Vale pens book to help us be more like our children

A former John Colet schoolboy, who grew up playing out in his Wendover Woods ‘back garden’ is inspiring adults to unleash their inner child in a new book.
Mike FaircloughMike Fairclough
Mike Fairclough

Mike Fairclough, 47, lived in Princes Risborough, Halton and Great Missenden during his childhood, and is now well known as the progressive headmaster of West Rise Junior School in East Sussex.

The school has made national headlines for its approach to outdoor learning, and a scheme spearheaded by Mike where youngsters are encouraged to beat their fears by taking part in ‘dangerous’ activities such as shooting, making fires, looking after buffalo and bee keeping.

The initiative has become so popular that forest schools have sprung up all around the country, and Mike now helps inspire other education providers using the knowledge that he has learned from his own project.

And now Mike has turned his attention to the wider world, and Wild Thing, published by Hay House, is a self-help style book designed for adults, who want to release the creativity and resilience that they used to enjoy as children.

The respected headmaster and educationalist credits his own forward-thinking outlook on his outdoors childhood in the 1980s, spent playing in the Wendover Woods, and listening to heavy metal music.

He said: “Adults in general strive in life to achieve a false sense of security by having unhelpful routines and creating lives that feel as safe as possible.

“But this actually has an impact on our resilience and the pandemic in particular has shown us this.

“No matter how safe and secure you tell yourself life is, something is always going to come along and kick you in the balls at some point. And that’s what my book is all about, because children just don’t experience the same anxiety about these things as adults do and there is a reason for that.

“Growing up my dad was an actor and my mum was a writer and teacher and we lived in St Michael’s Close in Halton Village. We moved to Missenden and then when I was 18 and met my wife we lived in Penn Road in Aylesbury at first.

“Even though I now live away, I can still imagine all of those tracks of the Wendover Woods now, and the top of Coombe Hill looking out across the whole of Bucks. Being there gives you a tremendous sense of perspective. “

Wild Thing is released this week, and while a book launch event is not on the cards due to the pandemic, Mike is taking part in a number of media appearances which he hopes will not only promote his book, but open up the national conversation about the childhood resilience that we seem to lose as adults.

He added: “ Children regularly step out of their comfort zones, and are expected to do things which are new and challenging for them, by the adults in their lives. From an early age, all children receive demands and instructions, from parents and teachers, which are designed to improve their skills, knowledge and character traits. In turn, the children develop at a rapid pace and, for the majority, they also acquire resilience.”

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