Registration

Weather conditions

We celebrate all seasons - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.  We embrace the weathers that each season brings including sunshine, rain, snow, hail, sleet, ice and wind.  We believe that these truly help us to make a deep connection to the natural cycles and rhythms of nature.

Children are always very active. This is an almost absolute given! They run, play, skip, jump, dance most of the time and so they usually have rosy cheeks and a warm glow. In fact many children get too hot even on cold winter's days and may even want to take layers off! This is different to the perspective of many adults who generally are much more sedentary and stand or sit still for long periods, who no longer create their own heat in the same way.  Burning energy through physical activity creates warmth, it keeps children healthy through exercise and it makes their day more exciting and fun, enabling their minds to be fully receptive to engaging in learning.

In most cases comfort and safety is managed completely effectively through appropriate clothing. This usually means lots of layers for temperature adjustments (put layers on, take layers off) and waterproofs to keep dry as well as sturdy footwear.  Please ensure your children attend with appropriate clothing. Please refer to our "Outdoor Clothing" webpage here:

Outdoor clothing

We also use fires and shelters for warmth and as protection from rain. Some shelters are temporary and some are permanent.  If the weather is extreme we make sensible judgements for the welfare of the group and we will retreat indoors on some occasions. However, the children are nearly always keen to venture outside again within a short period of time.

As mentioned above, it is more usual that the adult staff start to feel the cold long before the children. So rest assured that it is usually the staff that drive the need for additional countermeasures for warmth.

Conversely, on sunny hot days we regulate clothing to cool down, we use shelters for shade, and there is often a cool breeze under the trees.  Suncream is a more important consideration as well as sun hats when we go into the sun. Please ensure your children attend with both of these on sunny days.

We always respect the weather and on rare occasions we may need to cancel sessions or take additions measures such as going home early, but this is usually down to excessively high winds or electrical storms (due to safety), or down to weather that makes getting to site challenging such as snow.

Outdoor emphasis

Countermeasures to cold and wet weather	Impact
Physical activity	Creates inner warmth
Appropriate clothing (layered clothing, waterproofs and sturdy footwear)	Retains and insulates heat and enables heat regulation
Permanent shelters	Protects from wind and rain and helps to keep clothing dry ​
Temporary shelters	Protects from wind and rain and helps to keep clothing dry
Open fires	Creates localised heat and raises spirits
Gas burners	Creates localised heat and raises spirits
Log burners	Creates localised heat and raises spirits
Indoor space	Creates localised heat and raises spirits
Everyone goes home!	Last resort but could be a serious consideration if necessary