Nant-y-Cwm Alumnus

“NYC gave me the liberty to dream. It gave a broader spectrum of possibilities, I was told ‘sure you can do that. It gave me imagination, the confidence to think outside the box. It made me
believe that life is an adventure and I could sail around the world…which
I did!

Kieran Latham

Adam Buick

Ceramacist with exhibitions in the V&A and British Museum

Nant-y-Cwm gave me the self-belief and confidence to find my own path in life. It normalises creative ways of being. 

After Nant-y-Cwm I went on to A levels, a gap year, and then Lampeter University to study Archaeology & Anthropology. My first experience of pottery was at Nant-y-Cwm and it cemented my love of ceramics. I later completed an intensive ceramics training course in Ireland and became a ceramic artist in 2006. After sixteen years as artist, I exhibit nationally and internationally. I have public collections including the British Museum, V&A and the National Museum in Cardiff.

Nant-y-Cwm is good at nurturing the individual child. The small size of the school and having the same teachers all the way through was very grounding and stabilising.

My favourite memories of NyC are climbing trees and being in nature. Also, the end of school class trip to Switzerland, it was a great adventure, we drove in a minibus!

I had such a nice time there; it let children be children without the pressure.

Otto Carlisle

Renewable Energy Engineering Director

What I loved about NYC was the lessons. Main lessons were very engaging as you get fully immersed in the subject, which made it very interesting. The emphasis was on the subject as opposed to an exam.

NYC provided the opportunity to be in nature, to grow up playing in streams, and gave me a practical sense of building things from wood, metal, and through crafts. I learnt practical skills, which gave me a good grounding for life. These days, everything comes in a box, we’ve lost a connection to real life; sustainable living, growing, making and fixing. 

My favourite memory? Two things stick out, the nature walks that we did through the woodland whilst walking up and down streams. Secondly, the deep bond with my classmates. It was more like a family than a class. 

After NYC I went on to do GCSE’s, college, then a mechanical engineering degree at Brunel University leading to a Masters in renewable energy. I specialised in hydrogen and hybrid vehicles and now work on solar, wind and battery storage projects as an Engineering Director.

Joe Hoyle

Founder of ‘Human-Made’ Tech Company

Steiner education provides the thinking skills that have shaped my success in tech, such as having the persistence to solve problems creatively and seeing the bigger picture. I can draw a lot of lines between what I learnt at NYC and how I’m able to succeed in this career.

Human Made is a remote tech company with 100 distributed employees working all over the world. I co founded the company with my brother who also attended Nant y Cwm and my sister, our VP of finance, also went to NYC.

At 17 I really delved into tech and was the whizz kid that knew everything about computers. When I got interested I went from 0-100. There’s absolutely no need to have been using your computers your whole life in order to learn the skills to be good with them.

I didn’t have tech at home when I was a chid, we didn’t have a computer until I was 14, no TV no phone etc. The Steiner curriculum was more of the same, but after finishing school I really got interested in programming and it was an advantage that it wasn’t normalised for me in childhood.

Anna Hargreaves

Oxford University Alumnus and Environmental Educator

“The topic of my thesis at University was the importance of play during
early years education. This is one of the main reasons I moved back to Pembrokeshire, to send my own children to the school. I felt I left NYC with curiosity and the confidence to ask if I didn’t understand. We were encouraged to
ask questions not only for clarification, but also to get greater depth on areas you were interested in.”

After NYC I went on to do A-levels at Pembrokeshire College followed
by a degree in Human Sciences at Oxford. Since then I’ve always been
involved with connecting people with the environment, through outdoor
adventure, expeditions and various educational programmes.

I love that they start formal academic learning later, in line with other European countries and plenty of research that backs up the importance of focussing on emotional, social and physical development, before academic development.


NYC is good at exceptional care and warmth. It’s the opposite to a sausage factory. The teachers and the staff have the child’s best interest at heart. Providing a warm, nurturing, caring environment, this made me feel very safe and very free, free to be yourself, free to explore. 


My favourite memories were on the fantastic class trips and, going to Switzerland for our final class trip. The responsibility to raise the funds, the months of build up, it all built the anticipation. The adventure while we were there, climbing mountains, the friendships and the fun. We volunteered on an alpine farm which gave me an excitement for working holidays which I still have today.

The experience connected me to the landscape and the people more than if you were just a tourist.  NYC helped me foster my connection to, and love of nature, something every child needs now more than ever.