Question 1

What are the fees?

Accepted Answer

Fees are calculated at $60 per session. Please see our fee schedule for full details.

Question 2

What does my child need to have with them when attending your programme?

Accepted Answer

You will be provided with a parent handbook upon enrolment which details all you need to know about the running of the programme and what your child will need.

Question 3

What happens if my child misses a day or is unable to attend your programme?

Accepted Answer

Aroha Discovery School is an initiative developed by the charity Arohanui Learning Communities Trust. Our programmes are a private, fee charging educational service. We rely solely on fees and donations to provide this service and are unable to provide refunds for missed attendance unless in the case of sickness or injury. Please refer to our fees policy for full details.

Question 4

Do you offer discounts for siblings?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately we are not able to offer discounts at this time.

Question 5

Can homeschooled children attend the programme?

Accepted Answer

Yes, homeschooled children can attend our programme. As this is a one day nature programme (not a state registered school) your child can still attend and will not lose their exemption status.

Question 6

How does this work with children enrolled at state schools?

Accepted Answer

Most schools are very supportive of their students attending nature programmes. The benefits are often very evident to teachers. Following is an example given to us by a parent who helps run Nature Kids Co-op in Auckland. It’s feedback from a teacher concerning her son who was attending the Conscious Kids One Day Programme at the time...

“I believe that Conscious Kids helps children develop their problem-solving skills and helps them to understand and control emotions in a safe, secure, and fun environment. I  am a primary school teacher and had a child attend Conscious Kids one day a week over the course of half the year. From their attendance I saw a change in how the child was able to function in the school environment, they were able to manage their emotions a lot better and were able to solve problems in the playground more effectively.  They were able to remove themselves from situations and were able to calm themselves down and rejoin activities a lot quicker than before. I think that Conscious Kids has a great role to play for many students in today's world as "play" is an important part of a child's emotional and social development, which many children no longer experience in their lives outside of school or programmes like this.” - Regards Melissa Arriagada

Under section 71 of the Ministry of Education Act it states:

71 Courses, work experience, and visits outside school premises

Except as provided in this section, a board may authorise any students to—

undertake courses of education; orobtain work experience; ormake visits;—

outside the school premises; and where the board has done so, a student shall be deemed to be attending the school while undertaking the course, obtaining the experience, or making the visit.

To initiate the approval process you may first want to discuss the programme with your child’s teacher and/or principal to get their support. You will then need to write a letter to your child’s school board explaining your reasons for wanting your child to attend our programme, and send it along with this letter from us. We encourage you to view our resources section for further information on the benefits of nature schooling and free play so you are well versed for any discussions with your child’s school around this. We can then provide support and documentation as needed for the school board to approve your child’s attendance.

Question 7

How is your nature programme related to the NZ Curriculum?

Accepted Answer

The NZ Curriculum identifies five key competencies for living and to become lifelong learners.

ThinkingUsing language, symbols, and textsManaging selfRelating to othersParticipating and contributing.

The ideas behind the key competencies are to build up ideas, values, skills and an attitude that help children to live, learn, (eventually) work and contribute as active members of their communities.

The development of the competencies is not just the end goal but a means by which they are achieved i.e. through experience.

It’s acknowledged that we are social creatures and we adopt and adapt practices that we see used and valued by those closest to us, making those practices part of our own identity and expertise. They also develop over time through exposure to different people, places, ideas and things.

Our programmes help to expand on these key competencies children are already starting to develop in their usual school setting by exposing them to different environments where they are faced with new people, places, experiences, and challenges. Each time they attend they are expanding their neural pathways because the natural environment is an ever-changing place e.g. weather/seasons and terrain. They become more alert and engaged because there is always something new to see or experience.

Question 8

Do you have NZ registered teachers?

Accepted Answer

As we are not a registered school (yet), and the programme is specifically nature-based it is not actually a requirement by the Ministry of Education for us to be registered or to have an NZ registered teacher taking the programmes. Many programmes like this around New Zealand (and the world) are run with facilitators with a diverse range of background/skills but with the key element of having experience and training in nature-based learning. We ensure our facilitators have relevant experience and qualifications, have training and support to fulfill their roles to their best potential. We pick our facilitator’s based on past experience, and their passion for the ideas behind our core philosophies. Ours is a community of learners and we apply this philosophy to everything we do at Aroha Discovery with continual development and training opportunities for all our staff. Information about our facilitators is available on our About Us page.

Question 9

Do you allow visits?

Accepted Answer

Yes, please register your interest using our contact us form and we will be in touch to arrange this.

Question 10

My child has special needs, how do you approach this?

Accepted Answer

It’s been the experience of many educators that children with special needs greatly benefit from attending nature programmes. Please let us know your situation and we’ll work alongside you and your child’s school to ensure they get the most out of our programme.