Cabin Opening

[Kymba]

Cheers Tufftie and Eeyore
I am registered with woodland.co.uk and get regular updates from them. I also may have a possiblity of sharing a woodland in Ashford kent with someone who is buy one next year. I am also going to do public appeal in Local Kent papers as there maybe someone with a woodland that they would be willing to let me use or rent. I hope to put a large (ish) Static caravan and turn it into a classroom/ education centre.
I am also in middle of composing a letter/ business plan to send to local farms etc that open to tourists and have cafes and shops, to see if they would be interested in me running sessions, so parents can look around and have a coffee in peace while children are doing bug hunting and other session. I could be a Mobile wildlife centre
So I do have a few other options.

[Cheryl]

I'm afraid I can't offer any practical help but would like to wish you good luck for your future projects Kymba - what a shame that the schools' attitude was less than desirable, glad it hasn't dampened your enthusiasm and committment

I hope you get things worked out OK for your Mum and hope her health improves soon.

[Kayleigh]

Shame on the school

Hope your mum gets well soon Kym good news about the other school and glad you got on well with Chris..
If your video is on youtube or the like you add a link to your thread...
I will look forward to seeing it.

[Kymba]

Just a quick update to let you know how things have been going. Had a quite good summer of wildlife sessions, was only 2 days a week for 4 hours each of the days, but had between 4 and 10 children for each session, Had several children who came for complete summer holidays. A great time was had by all with lots of fun activities.We had a small teething snag with the cabin as well as the computors wouldn't connect to the school server leaving the children unable to use the computors. We did lots of bug hunting, insect, flower & tree identification. We did some art work making collages and pictures with things the children found in and around the woods and field. They made their own log piles in small containers (recycled from my home) to take home and put in their gardens, so they could carry on studying and looking for bugs. They made bird cake which they put into yoghurt pots to hang up in their gardens, and they got to try their hand at some nature photography.
I have also done my first two wildlife birthday parties for 2 six year olds. We did a bug hunt, made bird cake for them to take home, then did a letter hunt, where I printed and laminated letters which spelt a word related to wildlife, while children were eating I hung them around the large school field. The children then had to find them (not knowing how many there were) when they had found them all ( this gave them a good chance to run around) Two older siblings had to work out what the word was (each child held a letter) and arrange the children in right order to spell the word. I then took a photo of them. We finished with them sat in a circle where they could hold my giant millipede (if they wanted to) and have their photo taken. Then a game of Pass the parcel, all little gifts were a plastic wildlife bug. I have had brilliant feed back from parents whose children came and a few more possible bookings.
This saturday I am doing a mothing birthday party for a 9 year old.

Only downside of it all is the school moving goal posts again!! they said I could only charge £2.50 per hr each session. I had to go into see them last Monday when school returned after holidays, where they gave me a contract to sign in which they say I have to pay them half of what I got paid for each party and half what I got paid during the summer!towards the electric and wear and tear of the cabin.We didn't actually use the cabin at all as weather was so nice, we even ate out in the woods or on the decking. I am not a happy bunny as it means I only got £1.50 for each hour I worked after I took away all my expenses and petrol and paid the school. So I am now looking into what to do next. I have a meeting to get legal and business advice on Wednesday Morning, then a meeting with the school in the afternoon.

[agrumpycow]

Hi Kymba, this is the first time I've replied to your thread but I have to say it sounds like a fantastic place you've set up! Just a shame that it's always money that gets in the way, wouldn't life be so much simplier without it
Theres a nature study centre in Iver that I take some of the adults with learning disabilities that I look after to once a month. It's a great place and they all get so much from it, the arts & crafts bit and the wildlife gardening bit.
I hope you get the financial bits and bobs sorted out and it continues to grow for you

[Kymba]

Thanks Claire. I hope so to, Because I have worked so hard to get this far and I really love what I am doing.It is also so good to see the kids out in the fresh air, having fun and really enjoying the sessions (and not wanting to go home).
This place has so much potential If only the school could see past their noses and greed.

[ron1863]

Is there a Parents Association that you could approach Kymba, they usually carry a lot of weight with schools and could help you.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Kymba

Only downside of it all is the school moving goal posts again!! they said I could only charge £2.50 per hr each session. I had to go into see them last Monday when school returned after holidays, where they gave me a contract to sign in which they say I have to pay them half of what I got paid for each party and half what I got paid during the summer!towards the electric and wear and tear of the cabin.We didn't actually use the cabin at all as weather was so nice, we even ate out in the woods or on the decking. I am not a happy bunny as it means I only got £1.50 for each hour I worked after I took away all my expenses and petrol and paid the school. So I am now looking into what to do next. I have a meeting to get legal and business advice on Wednesday Morning, then a meeting with the school in the afternoon.

I hope you told them where to stick their contract - they are on very weak ground trying to make you pay that ammount over retrospectively if such a contract wasnt already in place before the money was earned.

IMO a better charging structure would be to insist that the school to charge you a flate rate for the per day "rental" of the cabin and grounds like they would any other function that they rented rooms too

then you'd factor this and all overheads into your charging structure (if you dont work for them they have no right to put a cap on what you can charge)

so for instance your sums would go

rental of cabin etc £25 pd (so 12.50 for a half day session)
Materials £10 (materials for this kind of work ought to be minimal - i take it you have registered with your local "scrapstore" - if not you need to do so)
petrol etc for travel to site £15

your time at desired fee of say £5 ph , 4 hours = £20

total £57.50

so ten children would be charged 5.75 each for four hours - which equates to under £1.50 per hour

Alternately if the school wants to be in charge of the charging structure then they could run the charging (and take responsibility for all expenses) and just contract you to run the sessions - that would give you less control but work out better financially as even at minimum wage you would be getting £5.25 ph

If you are only clearing £1.50 per hour then something is clearly badly wrong somewhere.