Academy in the Wild

Welcome to Academy in the Wild

We are excited to be sharing adventures in the wild with your children. The main purpose of this handbook is to introduce you to us and to help you and your child prepare for the season ahead.

During our programs we share the responsibility of protecting the health, safety, and well-being of your child, and the policies inside are designed to do exactly that. Please read through, ask questions, and talk any of it over with your child before the program begins.

Have a question about anything enclosed? Reach out any time — we look forward to lots of fun in the wild.

Our mission is to inspire children to grow wild

Academy in the Wild believes every child should have the chance to play and learn from the natural earth through child-led, play-based learning. Children are intrinsically motivated to learn — they do it by exploring the world around them. Our goal is to give them repeated access to nature, time and space to investigate, and a genuine sense of wonder, helping grow the future stewards of this land.

About forest schools

Forest schools began in Europe in the 1950s and have since spread around the world. They are founded on trust, relationship, and freedom. Children spend most of the day immersed outdoors, where time is unhurried and there is space for reflection, collaborative creation, and healthy risk. The benefits develop the whole child — social, emotional, physical, and cognitive. A few of the core principles we hold to:

• Takes place in a variety of natural places, with regular repeated sessions in the same space
• Views children as competent, capable learners and values multi-age learning together
• Led by qualified Forest and Nature School educators
• Values play, and sees the chance to experience risk as an integral part of learning
• Uses loose, natural materials for open-ended experiences — and values the process as much as the outcome

A place we believe is magical

We spent countless hours hiking the coulees to find our gathering places — spaces with everything children need: loose parts, mud, clay, sand, trees, bushes, safe low- and no-current shallow water (which ices over safely in winter), and a fire pit. We're also a short walk from shelter in case of sudden weather.

Securing your child's spot

A $30 non-refundable deposit per child secures your child's place. Full payment is due two weeks before the start date of your program.

Seasons run Fall (September–November), Winter (February–April), and Spring (April–June).

Arriving ready

The first morning is full of energy and excitement — we're all eager to get to the forest, but first we make sure the important bits are in place. Please arrive 10–15 minutes early to your very first session so we can meet you, do a little admin, check clothing and gear, and answer any last questions.

When everyone's ready, a quick goodbye helps ease any separation nerves before we head off into the woods.

Our rhythm of the day

There's a general rhythm to each day, but our schedule is flexible — the weather, the child's interests, the woods, and the animals present all shape our time together.

Keeping pick-up safe

We only release children to a Primary Contact, Emergency Contact, or another person named on the enrolment form. Everyone authorized for pick-up — parents included — should be ready to show photo ID.

Sign in and out happens on paper at a picnic table right by the parking spot. We ask that your child is walked to our meeting spot and signed in each day; from there we generally travel into the woodland once goodbyes have been said.

Dressed for the weather, ready to play

It's the parent's responsibility to make sure your child is dressed for each session. Check the forecast each morning and dress for extended outdoor play — it keeps children happy, comfortable, and safe. Clothes will get dirty, wet, and sometimes ripped; second-hand shops and marketplace finds work wonderfully. If your child doesn't have the right gear, let us know — we keep an extras bin to borrow from.

A sturdy backpack, packed together

Please pack a sturdy backpack that fits your child — with their help, so they know what's inside and where to find it. Put any lifesaving medication somewhere easy to grab and point it out at each day's sign-in. Keep it light: children carry their own packs between sites, and all tools and equipment are provided by us. Please don't send tools or knives from home unless we've asked.

• Small full water bottle they can open
• Healthier, litter-less snacks in a container they can manage
• Extra underwear (ages 3–7)
• Extra wool or synthetic socks
• Spare clothing in a plastic bag
• A plastic bag for dirty clothes
• 3 clean bread bags (feet stay dry if boots get wet)
• Hand warmers, reusable or throwaway
• Tissues in a small ziplock
• Small dry hand towel
• Lifesaving medication (e.g. EpiPen)
• All extra clothing from your season's list

On nicer days, please arrive with sunscreen and bug spray already applied. After you register, we'll email a printable clothing-and-backpack checklist for your fridge.

Fuel for busy bodies

Food is fuel — outside and active, children's appetites will tell them so, and a little food keeps energy and moods high. We wash or sanitize hands before snack time.

• Bring litter-less snacks where you can, to reduce the trash we produce
• On colder days, a thermos for something hot is lovely
• Make sure your child knows which containers are theirs and how to open them
• If anyone in the group has a nut allergy we run a strict nut-free zone, and email parents ahead of time
• We ask children not to share snacks, for everyone's health and safety

Two weeks before we begin

To take part, we need the following completed two weeks before the start date:

• All registration forms completed
• Informed consent / liability waiver signed
• Payment in full

Privacy

Any personal data we hold — including photographs — is processed strictly in line with privacy legislation and used only for the purposes you've consented to on the enrolment form. We won't share details with third parties without consent, except where legally required.

How refunds work

Refunds are given only in extreme circumstances that prevent a child from participating, assessed case by case.

• No refunds within 2 weeks of the start date, or during a program, unless the spot can be filled
• No refunds for a day cancelled due to weather or a child's illness
• A full refund is given if a program is cancelled due to insufficient registration

Staying home when unwell

Please keep participants (children, educators, and volunteers) home for at least 24 hours after symptoms subside for: a temperature at or above 38 °C / 100.4 °F, diarrhea, vomiting, pink eye, or any contagious illness. If these arise during a session, we'll contact you to pick your child up right away.

For communicable illnesses — measles, pink eye, chickenpox, mumps, flu, strep, viral pneumonia and the like — a child may return once their health-care provider says it's safe. Any outbreak or lice treatment is communicated to families through your preferred contact method.

Empowering, and carefully managed

Tools are a powerful part of forest school, brought out only once staff know the participants and have assessed each child's maturity, interest, focus, and ability to follow clear guidelines.

• An educator checks all tools before use, and safe use is demonstrated first
• Tools are counted out and counted back in
• Children are closely supervised until deemed competent to work with limited supervision
• Safety guards go back on immediately after use, and everyone stays outside each other's "safety bubble"

Ticks are a natural part of the woods, mostly in spring. If one is embedded, use tweezers to pinch as close to the head as possible and pull out slowly — don't burn, smother, apply alcohol, or squeeze the body, as that can release infected fluids. A nurse at 811 will gladly walk you through it. If you find a tick after a session, please let us know so other families can be informed.

Safe and enjoyable, always outside

We intend to run every session, but it must be both safe and enjoyable. Programs are entirely outdoors, and we reserve the right to postpone or cancel for unsafe weather or other circumstances affecting health and safety.

• In high but safe winds, we stay closer to open areas
• With forecast thunder and lightning, we keep children near shelter to move under quickly
• In extreme cold (−20 °C or lower) or heat (30 °C or above) we may cancel or limit exposure by age, constantly checking comfort
• If dangerous weather develops mid-session, educators gather the children, seek shelter, and stay until it passes; if we must cancel, families are called to arrange pick-up and educators remain until every child is collected

A proactive commitment

Academy in the Wild takes a proactive position on child protection. In accordance with the Child, Family and Community Services Act, we are required to report immediately if we suspect abuse has occurred or that a child is at risk.

Risk assessment & management

Risk is an inherent part of forest school, and learning to manage it is a valuable life skill — part of what makes our program unique. Educators continually assess and manage on-site risks while involving children in the process so they build these skills themselves. Risks children may encounter include chill from improper gear, slips and falls on uneven ground, insect stings and tick attachment, and scratches from thorns or a twig swinging back.

A 1:6 educator-to-child ratio

Our maximum educator-to-participant ratio is 1:6, so every child is heard and stays safe. Our facilitators have experience working with children in the outdoors — the most critical factor in keeping your child safe — and a genuine passion for sharing nature. Our role is to:

• Spark engagement by modelling enthusiasm for nature play
• Observe — once children are exploring, we step back to give them space to grow
• Learn alongside — we get dirty, build, create, and celebrate with the children
• Stay safe and create connections, helping children through the conflicts and discussions that arise

All educators hold current standard First Aid and CPR, plus a Criminal Record Check with Vulnerable Sector Screening.

Proactive, positive, developmentally aware

We create spaces that are developmentally appropriate for children. Corporal punishment and any abuse, harassment, or foul language are explicitly prohibited. Young children run on heightened emotions, and we do our best to work through situations safely and positively, assessing each one individually. Our approach focuses on the behaviour rather than the child, keeps expectations clear, stays positive and consistent, and involves parents when something recurs. We reserve the right to suspend or expel a child whose behaviour is unsafe for themselves or others; if that happens, we'll talk it through with you.

Your child's experience — and the happiness of everyone involved — matters greatly to us. Please never hesitate to reach out by text, email, phone, or in person. We'll make every effort to resolve any concern promptly, and always in confidence.

Caring for a shared land

We strive to care for this land, which was originally the gathering, traveling, and hunting routes of the Blackfoot nation. They marked this land with their footprints before us, and it's our job to keep stewarding it so its beauty and diversity remain for the generations yet to walk it.

Environmental sustainability

Sustainability is at the heart of our programming. We immerse children in nature while fostering an ethic of care for it, running ongoing ecological site assessments to identify, monitor, and limit our impact. We photograph our sites three times a year to compare our footprint, rotate locations, stay on established trails, and keep higher-impact activities to already-disturbed areas. We encourage natural art from loose parts and reusable materials, and — following "leave no trace" — everything we set up is taken down at each session's end.