Forest School Early Learning Centre in Okotoks

Our Okotoks location is at located at St. Peter’s Anglican Church. We play in the surrounding nearby nature spaces.

This location is licensed with the Ministry of Children’s Services for children ages 2-6 years old (not yet in grade 1). For families, this means they can qualify for government affordability funding and reduce their parent fees based on their registered hours of attendance.

3-6 year old class - Class sizes are generally up to 16 children with three educators when in the forest. Children must be independent in the bathroom to participate in this class.

2-3+ year olds - Class size for the 2-3 year old group is 9 children to 2 educators. Children do not need to be independent in the bathroom for this class.

Families register from 1 day per week up to 5 days per week and can choose their preferred hours of attendance.

Hours:
Short Day Hours: 9:30am - 2:30pm
Long Day Hours: 8:30am - 4:00pm

Fees:
Effective April 1, 2025 the Government of Alberta has mandated fees across all childcare centres in Alberta. Similarly, they have assigned Affordability Funding for families based on registered hours of attendance per month.

Full time (100+ hours per month) - Parent Fees of $326.25/month.
$1419.89 Programming Fees less Affordability Funding of $1093.64 = $326.25. In our setting this is generally 4-5 days per week of registered attendance but can vary based on preferred hours of day attending.

Part time (50-99 hours per month) - Parent Fees of $230.00/month.
$922.93 Programming Fees less Affordability Funding of $693.93 = $230.00. In our setting this is generally 2-3 days per week of registered attendance but can vary based on preferred hours of day attending.

Part time (less than 49 hours per month) there is no Affordability Funding and fees are based on days and hours of attendance e.g. One short day per week = $225 per month; long day per week = $255 per month.

Effective April 1, 2025 the government subsidy program has been closed.

There are no adjustments for statutory holidays, missed days due to illness, PD days or closures. Fees are based on registered hours of attendance but the government can reduce Affordability Funding if they see that families are not attending the registered hours over a period of time.