Our People
Director & Head of Centre

Darren Lewis

A passionate advocate of nature pedagogy as a means of facilitating interest-led, engaging and experiential learning programmes that develop physical, cognitive and social/emotional capability. A qualified Teacher and Trainer, Darren founded Ignite following a visit to Sweden where he observed first-hand the multitude of benefits children experience through learning in the outdoors. After becoming the first teaching practitioner in Wales to become a certified Swedish Outdoor Learning pedagogue, Darren established Ladybirds, a Nature Parent & Toddler group based in the woodland setting of Dare Valley Country Park.

As a former Director of the Forest School Association and Training Consultant for Mindstretchers™ and current Forest Kindergarten Ambassador for the UK, Darren’s vision is to enable children in Wales to experience the rich learning experiences that only outdoors environments can provide to enable their full potential to be ignited and nurtured.

 Lead for Internal Quality Assurance

Christine Lewis

A Chartered member of the CIPD and certified Teacher, Trainer and Coach. Christine has held various senior HR roles in the Telecommunications, Financial Services, Software Services and Retail sectors both in the UK and Middle East. A passionate advocate of facilitating learning and development interventions that enable people (both big and small) to unlock their potential and become the best version of themselves.

Director & Head of Dare Valley Forest School

Sapphire Lewis

Sapphire is a qualified Teacher, Forest School Leader, Trainer and Playworker. Sapphire has followed her passion for the outdoors and is the leader of Dare Valley Forest School after an extensive period of volunteering with our company.

Following her PGCE (PcET) where she undertook research into how to improve learner engagement via online learning, Sapphire has become one of our Trainers and has created our brand new E-Learning system.

 Apprentice Outdoor Learning Tutor

TBD