Forest School

[forestowl]

I run a Forest School in Bedford, we want to run weekly Saturday clubs for 6-11 year olds. Each session will last for 2 hrs and include things like, den building, fire lighting, bug hunting etc. I am struggling to set a price. I want to offer good value (the reason for setting up Forest Owl is to get kids outdoors and learning not to make a million) but i have to consider my costs too. How much do you think a fair price for a 2 hour session should be?

How many children in a group?
How many adults per group?

£4-£6 is what I'd expect to pay around here. Max. Most similar clubs are run as charities is problem with your business model.

Hi Bonsoir - initially there will be up to 6 children per session

OK, so two hours at 1:6. £10?

My ds does something similar at school but the person who runs it also has his own property/woodland & he goes to holiday courses there.

I pay £16 for 10.30am- 4.00pm

Sorry 10.30sm-3.00pm

It sounds like a great idea, but I imagine your main competition would be Cubs and Brownies, which work out about £2 per 90 main meeting. They are run by volunteers though.

The stuff ds does is completely different to that which would be on offer at cubs or brownies.

It is completely outside whatever the weather, the leader is a specialist in woodcraft techniques, they build shelters, eat outside, roast marshmallows on a fire. It's a survival course really.

The holiday courses are very very popular but weekly sessions are held as after school clubs at the schools themselves.

Groups are larger about 10-12 children & they often split into teams.

My DS has done all that as a Cub, but as part of range of activities. DD would have loved something like that all of the time.

£3 or £4 I would say, but then we're in Wales. Personally I would worry about 2 hours being to long, as a parent I would prefer 1 1/2 hours myself but maybe that's just me?