Home educating on the Yorkshire coast: you’re not on your own
If you’re home educating in the East Riding of Yorkshire or North Yorkshire — in Bridlington, Bempton, Flamborough, Filey, Scarborough, Beverley or Driffield — you’re already doing something brave and brilliant for your child. You’re shaping an education that fits them, often with limited local support and a lot of plates to keep spinning.
Many parents tell me the part they worry about most is STEM: science, technology, engineering and maths. Reading together, history projects and art might feel natural, but circuits, forces, chemical reactions and algebra can feel daunting — especially if they weren’t your favourite subjects at school.
Why STEM can feel hard at home
STEM isn’t just reading facts from a book. It’s about doing, testing, building and measuring, and that’s tough to recreate at the kitchen table, particularly when:
- you don’t have a science or maths background and worry about “getting it wrong”
- you don’t have the equipment, tools or materials for practicals and design projects
- your child is curious and capable, but you’re running out of ways to stretch them
- local daytime provision is thin on the ground, or not set up with home-educated children in mind
Along the East and North Yorkshire coast there are relatively few options for small-group, hands-on STEM during the school day. If that sounds familiar, you’re not failing your child — you’re navigating a system that wasn’t designed with home education in mind.
A local, practical option: STEM by the Sea
I’m Andy, a qualified primary teacher with over 12 years’ teaching experience in Yorkshire, Kenya and Malawi, based in Bempton, just up the coast from Bridlington. I set up STEM by the Sea to give home-educating families more practical science, design & technology and maths — with real experiments, thoughtful design, and our incredible coastline as a living classroom.
Children in EOTAS (Education Otherwise Than At School) and children with SEND are just as welcome. Groups are small, sessions are calm and hands-on, and activities can be adapted — just tell me a little about your child.
What learning can look like
1:1 tutoring
For children aged 7 to 14, 1:1 sessions focus mainly on maths and English, with other subjects welcome. Because sessions are personalised, we can move at your child’s pace, linger where they’re curious and gently shore up any wobbly foundations.
Science Practical Labs and Design & Technology Workshops
In our workshop in Bempton, small groups get to:
- carry out real science practicals with proper equipment in a safe, calm space
- explore forces, materials, electricity and more through builds and investigations
- follow the full design cycle — research, design, make and test — using real tools and materials
- work in tiny groups, so everyone gets time, attention and space to think
Beach School and Coastal Explorers
The coast at Bempton, Flamborough and Bridlington is one of the richest outdoor classrooms in the country. Sessions might include:
- investigating rockpool habitats and food chains
- measuring waves, wind or beach profiles and turning the data into graphs
- exploring fossils, geology, seabirds and tides
- thinking about erosion, climate and our impact on the coast through hopeful, age-appropriate activities
Learning outdoors often helps anxious or reluctant learners relax, move and rediscover their curiosity.
Washed Up Crafts
Not every child warms to the word “science”, but lots love making things. Washed Up Crafts workshops turn sea glass, driftwood and beachcombed treasures into art and clever creations, quietly exploring materials, structures and sustainability along the way.
When sessions run
Sessions run Monday to Thursday, 9am–4pm, with group workshops usually from 10am to 12 noon. STEM by the Sea launches in late October 2026, and I hope to offer funded and subsidised places from early 2027 so that cost never stops a child taking part.
You don’t have to carry this alone
Home education can be joyful and freeing, but it can also feel heavy when you’re parent, teacher, technician and cheerleader all at once. Whether you’d like regular sessions, occasional workshops or a fresh way for your child to connect with science and maths, we can shape something that fits your family. You can find more detail on our home education workshops page.
If any of this resonates, the next step is simply a chat. Tell me a bit about your child, what’s going well and what feels hard right now — there’s no obligation and no hard sell.
