AFSA Approved Provider: Happy Bush Kids Academy
G’day I’m Alanna Fae, founder of the Happy Bush Kids Academy which incorporates Bush Kids
Yoga & Kids Bush Play.
I have been fortunate enough to be working within the Perth (Whadjuk) community bringing
yoga, mindfulness & bush play to thousands of kids at Primary Schools, Early Childhood
Facilities, Community Centres, Homeschooling Families and more.
We are also a multi award winning company for our Online Programs that have been presented
all around Australia and overseas.
The reason I became a Happy Bush Kids Practitioner, Kids Yoga Teacher, Children’s Mental
Health Advocate & Eco-Educator is because I was diagnosed with depression at 14yo. So I’ve
always had a passion for giving kids and the adults in their life the foundational knowledge for
holistic wellbeing so when they are older and challenges pop up they can come from a place of
resourcefulness to get them through those challenges.
Our Kids Bush Play sessions are held within the outdoor space at Maida Vale Scout Group,
Western Australia.
As we scale and grow we hope to also include regular excursions at least once a term to nearby
natural spaces with our Bush Kids Families.
We do varied Acknowledgment to Country as part of our welcome & safety circle, we do this as
we have noticed that many companies feel as though they do this just to tick a box, so we like to
do this in different ways and have the kids have input and share their own thoughts and words
to be able to deeply honour the Noongar Whadjuk people on the land we are sitting on.
We also get many of our supplies and equipment from local indigenous businesses.
Finally we are trying to organise to have local traditional custodian community members or
business owners come in for incursions once a term to share their culture and knowledge.
I, Alanna Fae, have also spent the last 4 years learning the local Noongar language and
received permission from some of the local elders to share this language with kids.
We always encourage the kids to care for themselves, each other, plants and animals and that
our fear is a natural biological system to keep us safe, but to try and always be kind, respectful
& responsible with our choices.
Our philosophy is to encourage kids to take calculated risks so that they are able to develop
their own risk assessment and bodily feedback.
We do offer an organised, approved activity weekly, I do find this is more for the benefit of the
parents although the kids are invited to participate they come and go as they please.
As I have a neurodiverse child, I pride myself on inclusiveness and accessibility in all of our
sessions and programs for children and adults alike.
Within the Term 1 regular bookings we are pleased to have a multi aged group of kids enrolled
in the sessions. They range in ages from 10 months old to 9 years old.
We also have children of traditional custodian heritage and those diagnosed with autism, adhd
and more.
Our mentoring practices range from the children attending our sessions we encourage children
to take on a flow of self led, child led, sharing, co collaboration and ease and flow throughout
our sessions.
This mentoring extends to adults with our multi award winning online programs, in particular our
Happy Bush Kids Practitioner Program where we do weekly coaching calls to assist them to
grow and flourish their own businesses, passions, programs & offers.
We have had a range of practitioners coming through the program from Sustainability Experts,
Family Daycare Operators, Bush Kindy Facilitators, Nature Therapists, Equine Therapists,
Homeschool Families and more.
We pride ourselves on sustainable practices by repurposing and recycling everyday items to be
used in our sessions.
If we have to purchase something that we can’t substitute for something we already have, we
look at sourcing the item/s secondhand.
If we need to buy new we look at indigenous owned companies or sustainable local businesses
as our next option.
Because our sustainable practices are part of our everyday life, the message often comes up
within our curriculum.
For our online programs we encourage our enrolled participants to also use digital resources
and return their certification competencies via online methods.
