Guest Speaker announced: Caro Giles, author of Unschooled: The Story of A Family That Doesn’t Fit In
We’re honoured to welcome Caro Giles to this year’s conference, where she will share her powerful story of navigating the education system as a single mother of neurodivergent children.
Caro didn’t choose to homeschool her daughters — the decision was born out of necessity. Like many families whose children don’t fit into mainstream education, Caro found herself on the margins of a system that is underfunded and ill-equipped to support special educational needs. While still working as a school teacher, she was forced to leave her job and take on a new role: full-time educator and fierce advocate for her daughters.
In her deeply moving memoir, Unschooled, Caro documents the emotional toll of battling bureaucracy, the isolation of solo parenting, and the identity shift that comes with stepping away from a professional career. Her writing interrogates a society that values conformity over difference and continues to place the burden of care disproportionately on mothers.
Caro Giles is the author of Twelve Moons (HarperNorth), winner of the inaugural BBC Countryfile New Writer Award in 2021, and a regular columnist for Psychologies Magazine. Her Substack, Unschooled, is a space where she writes with raw grace about the everyday realities of mothering, caregiving, and advocacy.
Join us to hear Caro’s story — one that challenges assumptions, inspires empathy, and calls for a more inclusive and compassionate approach to education. Book now at https://safaplace25.eventbrite.co.uk/
