Home Education Groups with The Nature Box

Booking and Memberships for Sessions 

Booking will be taken on a membership basis. The four membership types available are: - Yearly Membership- Termly Membership - Half Termly Membership Taster sessions are available on Wednesdays for children wanting to try before committing to a membership. This is offered for 1 half term only. After this children will be required to move onto one of the above memberships. 

Childcare Vouchers 

Payments by Childcare vouchers will need to be made within 7 days of receiving an invoice. If payment is not received in this time, the place will be released again and bookable by another child.
Late Payment of Fees

Late payment charge of £25 will be added to each day after any invoice processed is paid late. Failure to pay will mean places will be no longer reserved. If you think you may not be able to make a payment, please speak to an admin or management team member as soon as possible. 

Cancellations, Contractual Agreement and Refund Policy
Cancellations by Nature Box Our Forest School activities are based outdoors, and we intend to run these in all weathers except thunderstorms, high winds, and excessive snowstorms. Because Forest Schools is based outdoors, we do face greater risks due to weather. Our priority is the safety of our explorers. If we have to cancel a session for any health and safety reason that is out of our control, we will not be offering refunds or credits for the session.

Cancellations by a Parent 

We recommend that you choose a membership that suits your needs and economic commitments. The membership you selected is non-refundable. For Yearly Membership, a fee of the total amount left to pay will be payable if families wish to exit the membership early. 

Contractual Agreement

A completed registration form acts as a contractual agreement that you have read and fully understood our terms and conditions of attendance of our sessions. Once signed and agreed, the terms and conditions must be followed by both parties. 

Refund Policy 

Unfortunately, we are unable to give refunds once this contractual agreement is signed. This is due to the nature of our service, and the high staff to child ratio we provide. 

Sickness and holidays Child Illness 

Please keep your children at home if they have or have had, in the previous 48 hours, any infection or sickness, temperature of 38 degrees or higher, or have had diarrhoea even in the absence of sickness. If this is the case, please call us and inform us your child will not be attending the session. We are unable to offer a refund or credit for missed sessions due to sickness.

Staff Illness

If we have a staff member ill, we will do everything to ensure ratios are abided to. If this is not possible it may be that the session will be cancelled. 

Covid-19 and Self -Isolation as advised guidance from the Government

We as an education setting will follow the most up to date guidance on Covid-19 and self-isolation. We expect full transparency from parents when disclosing to us cases of self-isolation or positive Covid tests.
If we have to close our sessions due to covid-19 self-isolation, we will notify parents immediately, and provide a refund for the sessions missed.
If a child has been told to isolate and misses a session, we will do our best to find an alternative session for this to be credited to.
Child Holidays 

We have developed a range of memberships to offer flexibility for our participating families. If you are unable to attend a session included in your agreed membership contract, we will not be able to offer you a refund or credit for the session. Please be mindful of this when selecting your type of membership with any upcoming holidays you may have booked.

Nature Box Holidays

Our Home education sessions run on a term time basis only. This is in line with Sheffield City Council School term dates. We are also closed on Bank Holidays and 2 weeks at Christmas. Dates for this will be provided. 

Assessments, learning and observations

Project-Based Approach

Learners will have the opportunity to participate in long-term, short-term, group and individual projects focused on Forest School skills. These projects include flora and fauna identification, woodland management, tool mastery, fire mastery, and shelter building. These projects will provide further structure and guidance to the learning process and will be based around the learner’s interests.

Feedback and Assessments

Each learner will be given a journal that will stay at Forest School until the end of the term. This journal is a space for both learners and their key person to reflect each week and write or draw about their experiences. The journal will provide qualitative documentation of the progress they have made throughout the term.
At the end of each term, staff members will complete an assessment sheet for each learner. This assessment considers the holistic development of the learner, highlighting their abilities physically and socially, as well as their self-esteem, emotional intelligence, motivation and persistence, and knowledge and understanding, with statements demonstration how learners love them self, each other, and the world.

Children bringing items from home Toys and attachment items 

We understand that some children may need to bring an item that they are close to in order to feel secure, especially during the beginning of joining us. We are happy for children to bring this, as long as the children are aware that this will not be the responsibility of the leader to take care of. Please be aware of the risk of damage and loss during the session. 

Bringing in own tools and equipment

We provide all the equipment that children will need to complete the session to a high standard. We do not require and will not allow any child to bring in any tools, pen knives, or anything else similar to a session. 

Packed Lunches 

We require children to bring a healthy and filling packed lunch with them. Examples of healthy and practical lunches for the seasons are:

Summer: 

Ice pack and cool lunch box 

Sandwiches 

Wraps 

Veggie sticks and dips 

Fruit 

Cereal bars 

Winter: 

Flask that holds hot food and/or drink 

Soup 

Beans 

Stew 

Hot chocolate 

Warm milk 

Hot honey and lemon 

Cereal bars 

Fruit 

Veggie sticks 

Kit List 

What shall I bring?

We do not have a set kit list because we want to make Forest School as inclusive to everyone as possible. We do however require that your children wear suitable clothing for the weather, a water bottle, a packed lunch, and closed-toed shoes. In the summer we require you to bring sunscreen and a sun hat. 

Other recommended items to help optimise comfort:

- Ski/snow boots during winter to stay warm

- Waterproof shoes/boots for all seasons

- A change of clothing

- Waterproof trousers with elasticated straps (fishing waders)

- Waterproof jacket with a hood

- Layers (long sleeve and short sleeve tops, fleeces, thermals, etc.)

- Winter hat, gloves, but not scarves

- Thick socks

- Suitable backpack that your child can comfortably carry

- Ice pack in lunch bags
Allergy Policy 

We have a strict NO NUTS policy at The Nature Box. Please be aware of what you are providing in your child’s lunch box. 

We take dietary requirements and allergies very seriously, and it is of great importance to let us know of your child’s requirements and speak through this with a leader as soon as possible. 

Arrival and Departure 

Please arrive for the session on time. Please ensure that social distancing rules are being adhered to during pick up and drop off times. Please ensure you are ready to collect your child on time. A £5 late collection fee will be added every 5 minutes after 15 minutes of late collection. 

Data Protection 

Your data is stored on a lockable computer, and a lockable filing cabinet. We are registered with ICO. 

Communications with you as a parent/carer 

We currently use an app called Famly, which is password protected and allows the staff team to share photos, videos, and any messages about your child’s daily experience. We also conduct verbal debriefs of the day at pickup time. On a termly basis, we will provide information with each parent/carer about their child’s development and interests while at Forest School.

Photographs 

We ask permission on this form to take photographs of your child during the session. This is done on password protected work only devices. Photos will be used for: - Observation and Assessment - Sent on our Famly app to you to notify of activities throughout the day - Website - Social Media Please inform us on this form if you do not wish for your child to have photos on any of the above. This can be changed at any time. 

Weather Policy

Our sessions are running mainly outdoors, in most weathers. The weather we are unable to run in are: 

- High Winds

- Thunder and Lightening storms 

- Heavy snow or flooding
In the event of weather forcing us to cancel, we will ring parents immediately and ask them to collect. We will notify parents as soon as we can if we plan to cancel prior to the session. Unfortunately, we will not be able to refund for this cancellation. 

Use of tools and risky play 

This agreement highlights you are aware of and give permission for children to use tools, climb trees, build fires and other elements of risky play during our sessions. These activities are supervised by qualified FS leaders, who also have paediatric and FS First Aid. Such activities will be slowly introduced, managing and monitoring children’s competency throughout. 

Our Setting Ethos

• We love ourselves.
• We love each other.
• We love our world.

The Nature Box is invested in creating a community of learners who feel respected and are respectful of others and the world around them. We develop our programming with the 6 Forest School Principles of best practice in mind, ensuring we offer long-term, woodland-based sessions that are learner-centred and take a holistic approach to development. 

Our staff team are all trained or training to be qualified Forest School Leaders. We come from a range of backgrounds within the field of education, but all have a passion for the Forest Schools approach. Our team engages in reflective practice to ensure each session provides experiences based on learners’ interests and developmental needs. 

We strive to continue to build the Nature Box Home Education community, fostering a relationship with each family attending our sessions. We ask parents to support and work together with us in the same ethos, valuing each other, themselves, and the world, and role modelling this with their children. 

Behaviour Policy

We recognise that developing an understanding for the complexities of peer relationships is an experiential process. We will support children to mediate disagreements in a calm and considerate way. We want to foster a community that allows all voices to be heard. We recognise that not everyone will have the same views and ideologies and we want to encourage tolerance and respect for other viewpoints to avoid polarisation.
Staff members are available to listen to concerns and assist with resolving any disagreements or concerns.

Our ethos informs our positive behaviour strategy, ensuring that children are talked through any concerns, worries, triggers, or emotions. This helps children to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and other people around them.