Reducing Financial Barriers

Subsidy through DSSAB, Sliding Scale, Materials Exchange & more

WE NEVER WANT FINANCES TO BE A BARRIER TO A CHILD’S PARTICIPATION IN FOREST SCHOOL PROGRAMS.

Parry Sound Forest School is a Not For Profit organization. Any dollars generated by the business must therefore be reinvested into our activities. Most of our revenue is used to pay for insurance, rent, salaries, training and for learning resources.

We believe that time spent in nature should be part of every child’s formative years and not a privilege dependant a family’s finances.

To this end, we have taken the following steps to keep our programs as accessible as possible.

  • While some of our programs break even or bring in some revenue, others, most notably Nearby Nature (the program where schools bring their classes for visits), often run at a loss. We choose to manage the business this way in order to keep school visits accessible to as many children as possible.

  • We have a clothing lending library including rubber boots, winter boots, rain pants, rain suits, winter hats, mittens and some snow suits that we are happy to loan to children who may need them.

Below are a few financial options that we hope will help get your child to Forest School:

1. District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB) Subsidy

Through a partnership with High Five Ontario and the Parry Sound District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB), we have a service agreement whereby the DSSAB offers subsidies for qualifying families for after school care as well as Summer, PD Day and March Break Day Camps. For families who qualify, the DSSAB can either partially or fully subsidize children's participation in these programs. Please reach out to Lori for more information.

2. Reduced Fees Using our Sliding Scale

While our funds are limited, Parry Sound Forest School is able to absorb the cost for several children annually, with help from our wonderful community & partners. Please see below for further information on the sliding scale, or reach out to Meghan at admin@psforestschool.com to discuss further.

3. Work/Skills/Materials Exchange

PSFS is willing and able to offer creative options for work/skills or materials in exchange or in addition to financing. For example, you might provide us with firewood or help us with a project in exchange for tuition. If you’re interested in the work/skills/materials exchange, we request that you consider what skills or materials you can give that might support our organization to improve our offerings. Please email admin@psforestschool.com with your idea or for further information.

Sliding Scale

A sliding scale is in place to support families who experience financial barriers but cannot be supported by DSSAB.

This can mean: single parent households, low-income families or other families facing financial hardship at this time.

The sliding Scale is a self serve option for those facing financial barriers, offering up to 50% off the program cost.

How it works: Simply type "ACORN as a PROMO code at registration + a multiple of 10, anywhere between 10 and 50, all one word. This will adjust the cost of the program by that percentage.

For example: ACORN10 for 10 % Off • ACORN50 for 50% Off, etc.

*The forest school reserves the right to limit the amount of funding allotted to each family based on available resources.