Reducing Financial Barriers

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.

Learn more about DSSAB subsidy here
Email DSSAB

2. Reduced Fees Using our Sliding Scale

While our funds are limited, Parry Sound Forest School fundraises to be able to reduce 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 Mariah at admin@psforestschool.com to discuss further.

This program is offered through partnership with Small Change Fund and the Tuition Assistance Program.

Learn more about the Small Change Tuition Assistance Fund
Email Admin


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.

Email Admin


4. Payment Plans

We realize that paying the full cost of a seasonal program can be a barrier for some families so we gladly offer payment plans. Simply reach out to set up a payment plan, such as monthly payments, that works for you.

Email Admin

Sliding Scale

Tuition discount is offered through our Tuition Assistance Fund in partnership with Small Change Fund, thanks to the generosity of our community.

Thanks to our generous donors, 8 families were able to access tuition assistance this year resulting in 15 children benefiting from our programs.

At this time we cannot offer a sliding scale tuition discount for the Winter 2026 term.

We hope to make this available, depending on funds, Spring 2026.