Director & Chair

Ian is the parent of three previously home educated children and Benjamin, aged 7, who is currently being home educated.

Ian is Chair of Rainbow H.E. Events, which he co-founded in 2025 with a renewed commitment to running inclusive events for home educating families. He was previously a founding director of Home Education Festivals, working alongside a number of the directors who now also serve on the Rainbow board.

He had a long career in the IT industry before recently retiring. He now keeps busy parenting and educating Benjamin, serving as treasurer of the local Scouts, organising the Rainbow event at Newark Showground this year, and working on various green energy projects at home. He is currently hoping to install a turbine in the stream that runs through his land to generate green electricity during the winter.

His main role for the festival is organising the infrastructure, including booking the showground, marquees, showers and toilets. Throughout the year he also has a coordinating role as Chair of the Board and, at the event itself, he can often be found filling in the gaps wherever needed.

Activity Coordinator & Production

Poppy is the creative mind behind the Rainbow H.E. Events logos, graphic design and merch illustrations. She supports the wider team wherever needed, particularly within production and activity coordination alongside Sonia, and also leads workshops during the festival. This year she’ll be running Forest School sessions, drawing on her professional work providing FS experiences for home educated children.

She has volunteered at a variety of festivals and community events, and was keen to help shape Rainbow from the ground up. As a home educated child now turned adult, she understands first hand the value events like this bring.

“I enjoy volunteering and for Rainbow I wanted to help with the exciting creation of it, and I’m particularly looking forward to the sense of community we are aiming to foster and the impact on the HE circle.”

Outside of Rainbow, Poppy works in Forest School and enjoys developing her creative skills, often experimenting with different crafts. At the moment she’s exploring pottery and refining her technique on the wheel. 

She has recently completed her degree in Early Childhood Studies (showing how being Home-Ed and neurodiverse doesn’t create barriers), and is enjoying the extra time to work on creative personal projects as well as helping more with Rainbow and volunteering for other local charities.

IT Director

Ed is the IT Director for Rainbow H.E. Events, keeping the digital side of things running smoothly behind the scenes. He was keen to volunteer after noticing that some families in the home education community felt they might no longer have an annual camp to look forward to. He wanted to help make sure that opportunity continued to exist.

Outside of Rainbow, Ed works as an IT Consultant, specialising in servers, networks and the infrastructure that keeps organisations connected and secure.

Ed was home educated himself and, although he’s no longer actively involved in the community in other ways, he feels strongly about ensuring that home educated young people today have access to the same kinds of opportunities and experiences that he valued growing up.

Activity Coordinator

Sonia volunteers with Rainbow H.E. Events as an Activity Co-ordinator. She wanted to support and give back to the home education community that has given so much to her son during his home educating years, particularly the acceptance he has found as an LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent member of the community.

When she’s not volunteering, Sonia studies nutritional therapy and works in health care. In her spare time she enjoys experimenting with cooking, as well as hiking, cycling and gardening.

Production (tech)

Chunky leads the production team at Rainbow H.E. Events and is the person responsible for making it all work when the lights go on and the mics are live. From sound engineering and lighting to stage management and running the cinema, he oversees the technical elements of the event.

He runs a talented crew made up largely of teens and young adults, giving them real, hands on experience of working in live events.

Marketing Director

Nicky looks after PR and marketing, managing the social media channels and website content.

Having benefitted hugely from the home education community over the years, volunteering with Rainbow felt like a natural way to give something back now their son is older.

“I’m passionate about creating an environment that feels inclusive, welcoming and well organised, where families can relax and feel at home.”

Her husband Chunky coordinates the production team, and their son Zed works alongside him on production during the event.

When she’s not immersed in festival plans, Nicky works from home running her online businesses. She can usually be found crocheting something colourful, pottering in the garden, writing or playing with her Newfoundland dog Rocky.

Event Team Coordinator

First Aid Coordinator

Jennie wanted to volunteer with Rainbow H.E. Events to gain more experience following a couple of years volunteering as a first aider at other large camps.

When she’s not volunteering, Jennie works as a home education tutor in English, Maths and various sciences. She is also an alternative provision teacher, a Scout Group Lead Volunteer, chair of Trafford Green Party and a School Streets volunteer. She is about to begin studying for a Masters in Crime and Justice.

Jennie has been home educating since 2017 and has two children, aged 19 and 16, who are both doing A levels. She makes books from scrap paper and food packaging and hopes to share some of them at Rainbow. She enjoys collecting cloth badges from places she visits to sew onto her camp blanket, reading travel biographies when she gets the chance, and camping, apart from packing away at the end.