How to Book a Trip
Book an incredible trip for your students in 2 easy steps!
1. Have a look at the availability calendar and complete the online request form. We will do our best to give you’re your first choice of days but in the event that your first choice isn’t available you will be given your second.
2. After receiving your request form we will be in touch within a few business days and send you and online booking portal to complete your booking. Once submitted, this form will be your confirmation email and invoice/receipt for your trip.
Please mail a cheque to the address listed in your confirmation email c/o Farm School
**Schools booking multiple classes will need to register each class individually**
How Many Students Can I Bring?
Our maximum group size is 60 students. If you are bringing a larger group, please keep your chaperone number to the minimums.
Teachers & Chaperones
There is no charge for teachers or any support staff required for students. For chaperones, you are welcome to bring 1 chaperone per 10 students. Beyond that, there is a $5 charge for each additional chaperone. Having extra hands is extremely helpful and contributes to the success of the day for your students.
With this in mind, please prepare volunteers about your goals for students and remind them that the day is for the students! Sometimes adults get excited and forget this – they jump in to answer questions, over participate, or hold a child back based on their own personal feelings about certain things. By choosing to volunteer for the trip, volunteers are being extremely generous with their time, but the primary goals for the students need to be kept in the forefront. When filling out the final booking form, there is a field for you to enter in the # of expected chaperones you will bring for your trip.
Can Chaperones Bring Siblings?
We understand that sometimes chaperones/volunteers would like to bring along siblings. This is something that is difficult for us to accommodate and based on our experience we strongly discourage it. Our primary focus is to provide the students with a fun and enriched experience, and often the addition of siblings distracts all parties from this focus. Ultimately the final decision is up to the teacher/lead organizer, and should extra siblings attend, we will add them to the final total of the visit at the same cost of a student.
Half Day vs. Full Day
Feedback from teachers has told us that the decision to come to the farm for a full day or half day program varies considerably from year to year as the decision is hinged on the maturity and ages of students and the goals for the day.
A full day program allows students to dig deeper into each activity and fully experience what the farm has to offer. Rotation times for each activity are longer, more physical ground is covered, and generally topics are circled back on to compliment the learning. You know your students…. we adapt our programs and goals for the day to be grade appropriate but full day programs can prove be a challenge for very young students. If you feel that your class has the maturity level and also the ability to accept a new routing for the day – then this program is for you! Program time is 4 hours.
Half day if you feel that your students are ready to be out of the school, but only for a few hours, then a half day programs can be the solution for the younger students. These days are still very dynamic and quite special, but they have slightly shorter rotations to accommodate for time. Program time is 2 hours<
Program times run from either 10-12 or 12-2 and full day programs run from 10-230. We are happy to adjust these times based on your travel time to the farm but keep in mind that this needs be arranged ahead of time so we can best plan for your day!
Litter-less Lunches, Drinking Water & Food
Please ask students / parents to pack a litter less lunch for their farm trip. If students have wrappers, pop cans, zip lock bags etc.. we will simply ask them to tuck these back into lunch pails to be dealt with back at their home. As composting is a big part of sustainable agriculture, any compost will be collected in one of our compost buckets and added to our compost system or fed to the worms!
Drinking enough water on the farm trip is important. Please ask your students to bring a re-fill able water bottle with them. We have quality drinking water available for them from our taps at the solar showers or round room. This water is tested regularly. If students do not have bottles and need cups, we will ask parent volunteers to give them a quick wash at the end of the day
We have no food available for purchase at the farm.
Weather & Clothing
The farm is exciting in all weather! Trips run rain or shine and the only time a trip will be cancelled is if there is an Environment Canada weather warning is issued – If this is the circumstance, your school will be contacted early in the day. We understand that this can be a challenge, but please do what you can to prepare your students for the day and for all weather. Close toe footwear is required and contributes to the enjoyment of the day. Volunteers and teachers should try to model these choices too.
Contact Information
Contact Karen, our Youth Director, if you have any questions about the programs or booking process:
karen@everdale.org
Payment Options
In the final booking stage of your trip, you can pay by credit card or choose the ‘pay by cheque’ option that allows you to tally your day, but pay later. Cheques need to be mailed ASAP.
Cancellation Policy
Your Farm School Fee is refundable, less a service fee of $50 per date booked, if your program is cancelled in writing more than three weeks before the start of the booked program day. If the cancellation occurs within three weeks of the booked program day no refund will be offered.
