Our Team

Leanne Reid

Craigmillar site team member.

A skilled Forest School practitioner who specialises in supporting children and young people with additional support needs and neurodiverse conditions, Leanne brings 20 years of experience working with young people. She supports them to reach their full potential using a variety of communication strategies helping overcome social difficulties. She has a love of nature and nature play, and recently Trees and Seas helped her achieve her Forest School qualification. Leanne connects deeply with non-verbal children by giving them the time and space to communicate in their preferred way. She also has the ability to create calm activities when children need extra support to regulate their emotions. She achieves this using calming instruments and mindfulness techniques.

Graham Wylie

Gracemount site team member.

Graham has been an Early Years Officer at Edinburgh City Council for the past 14 years. He is passionate about supporting children, families and communities to enjoy the best outdoor play experiences by encouraging them to explore their local green and blue spaces. Graham has always loved the outdoors, climbing, cycling, walking or simply relaxing and listening to the birds. He brings energy and enthusiasm to the sessions and the children and young people love his fun nature.

Rita Budivari

Gracemount site team member 

Rita is an experienced language teacher fluent in four languages. She currently teaches French within the local authority High Schools. Rita joined the Trees and Seas team as a Forest School Assistant. She has a real passion not just for teaching and developing interesting outdoor activities, but also for teaching French outdoors. She adores trail running, hiking, camping, and exploring hidden gems of Scotland. Rita will be hosting Hungarian Forest Family sessions once a month to support and encourage Hungarian culture. She will be training to be a forest school leader soon.

Alison Pick

Floating forest and nature play assistant – all sites

Ali is a trained biologist and conservationist. She has completed her Forest School Assistant qualification. Ali has experience working for several large conservation charities in an educational role, mainly delivering outdoor education sessions to primary school children. Additionally, she has worked as a scout leader for the last 4 years. Her gentle, kind and nurturing way with the children are essential for supporting children in the under 5 group.

Tiegan Burnett

Floating holiday club assistant – all sites

Tiegan is training to be a Forest School Assistant and Early Years Practitioner. Tiegan has been involved with Trees and Seas from the start. Her natural ability to connect and work with children was soon recognised and like Leanne, we are helping her to achieve the Forest School qualification.

Deirdre Armstrong

Craigmillar site volunteer 

Deirdre is a retired nursery teacher and has been volunteering with Trees and Seas for over a year. She has a Froebel in Childhood Practice Course qualification from Edinburgh University. Deirdre has been encouraging children to self-direct in nature through open ended play – putting Froebel’s theories into practice. She has a natural empathy with the children.

Young Leaders

As some of the children transition to high school and reach the upper age limit for the Forest group, they want to continue attending sessions by helping and supporting the younger children as young leaders. This is a new evolving role with great potential.  These future young leaders have gained so many new skills which can be passed-on to new children attending.