Term Dates

and Fees

Nursery Opening Times, From September 2025

Monday to Thursday 8.30am - 4pm.

Home Ed Opening Times, From September 2025

Friday 9.30am - 3.30pm.

We are open term time only and follow the West Lancashire term dates:

Term Dates 2024/2025

Autumn Term 2024

Starts: Monday 2 September 2024
Half term: Monday 21 October - Friday 25 October 2024
Ends: Friday 20 December 2024

Spring Term 2025

Starts: Monday 6 January 2025
Half term: Monday 17 February - Friday 21 February 2025
Ends: Friday 4 April 2025

Summer Term 2025

Starts: Tuesday 22 April 2025
May Day: Monday 5 May 2025
Half term: Monday 26 May - Friday 30 May 2025
Ends: Friday 11th July 2025

Forest School Fees

Nursery Funded children

We accept 2, 3 and 4 year olds who are funded (15 or 30 hours). If your child is funded through the Early Years funding from the Government. You will just need to pay the £15 daily Forest School Sustainability Payment.

We claim 6 hours (7.5 from september) funding per full Forest School session.

If your child does not receive funding the cost for the day are £51 per day (from September).

Daily Sustainability Payment

We charge a Sustainability payment of £15 per day (discount available for low income families)

Why do we charge this?

The funding we receive from the government to pay for your child's care unfortunately doesn't cover the actual cost of this care within our setting.

As an outdoor setting our staffing is our biggest outlay as we do not adopt the staffing ratios set out by the EYFS, which are up to 13 children to one member of staff (many indoor nurseries operate to these ratios) We however operate at a ratio of 1 member of staff to 5 children maximum, this obviously increases staffing costs massively. We believe these ratios allow us to support children better and enables staff to be 'present' at all times.

We also choose to stay a small setting so the children never feel overwhelmed by crowds of other children and have the space to be themselves.

Due to the nature of running an outdoor setting we also have higher insurance costs to cover the more adventurous activities.

The setting is spread over 20 acres of beautiful woodland, the cost of maintaining this woodland so it remains safe for the children is also a great expense.

We feel the sustainability payment is justifiable due to unique experiences that we provide for the children.

(this fee may be increased when there is a rise in national wages or other costs)

If your child is eligible for 'Pupil Premium' the sustainability payment is reduced by 50%, (using the government funding). Please follow this link to check if you're eligible.

If you are in receipt of universal credit you may receive a 20% discount on the payment, please get in touch.

We do not offer half day sessions

Fees are all paid monthly in advance and payment plans are set up so all payments are spread equally over 12 months.

We accept childcare vouchers, and tax free childcare.

Home Education Fees

Full Day Fees:

£37 per day.

Each additional sibling who attends receives a 10% discount.

Payment will be through a plan where the termly fees are spread evenly over a number of months. A monthly invoice will be sent at the beginning of each month. You can pay through standing order, Go Cardless or in cash.

We accept Childcare Vouchers and Tax Free Childcare

If you were to decide to take your child out of Forest School we require 4 weeks written notice (not including Holidays)

We ask for children to sign up on, at least, a termly basis. This is to ensure we are able to adhere to the Forest School ethos and give the children the time needed to develop their community, their relationships with others and their environment and get the most from their Forest School experience. Therefore, we will not be offering any sessions on a 'drop in' basis. Priority will be given to those children wishing to sign up for the whole year.

Into The Ark
Forest School

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