Coastside Nature Program 2025- 2026 FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have openings for the upcoming school year?  

Yes, we do have limited spaces for the Fall Semester 2025-2026.  We will offer 2, 3 or 5 days a week, Half or Full day options.  First step is to fill out an application. 

Where will you be located for this upcoming school year?  

Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays we will operate out of Quarry Park in El Granada. Thursdays and Fridays, we will operate  out of our new site on Tunitas Creek Rd, Half Moon Bay, CA. 

When will the Fall Semester start?  

We will have an Open House/Meet and Greet on Tuesday, September 2nd at Quarry Park from 10:00am – 12:00pm. We will  begin the school year with our regular hours on Wednesday, September 3rd at Quarry Park. 

How will the curriculum differ, or will it be the same at both places? 

We will run similar curriculum at Quarry Park minus the tents but will bring bins of activities to mirror what we offer in Tunitas Creek Rd. We are inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach and creating curriculum based on the interests of the children  and provocations presented by nature and that will remain our focus at both sites. We also model our structure after the  Forest School principles and our decision to utilize Quarry Park as an alternative site allows us to continue to focus on  nature as the main component in our explorations with the children. 

Who will be the teachers and how many children will you enroll?  

The teachers (Kanchan and Annette) will remain the same as we love our job! We plan to keep the number of children the same with a ratio of 1 teacher for every 5 or 6 children depending on the range of ages on any given day with a daily total of 10 - 12. However, we could go up to 18 children, but we would hire another teacher to work with us each day. Ideally, it would be another teacher with either a forest school background or RE background or both if possible. We will see what our needs  are once our enrollment is finalized. 

What age range are the children enrolled for the fall? 

We have a range of ages coming next year from 2 - 5 years old but that may change by the time we start in the fall. Our main focus is on the preschool age for right now, but our plan to include programming for older children remains. We would hire an educator to work with the older children for the morning hours of the day.  Their focus will be on the educational needs of this age to satisfy the California requirements.

What areas of Quarry Park will you use?  

We will be based out of the playground area and the grass area above that with the tree and deck. We also have a spot in the garden and will visit there as well. We may also have a bike day at the park occasionally. Hiking will be limited to close proximity to the playground area at first until we better know the skill level of the children. 

What about the weather challenges?  

As far as weather goes, the plan is to still run the program if raining but stormy weather with heavy downpour and wind  would either cause us to cancel for the day or if it is expected to go on for a few days, we will use the Tunitas Creek site for  backup and safety. Whatever we decide based on the weather forecast, we will have  a conversation with the parents first to allow for your input. Just rain, however, would not stop us. There is no bad  weather. Only bad clothing choices. The kids love the rain! We will utilize a pop-up tent for snack and lunch time and rest  time. The other factor that would require us to cancel is air quality. Heading into fire  season, we will keep a close eye on the air quality and unhealthy levels will cause us to close for the day until the levels  become healthy again.  

Please reach out to us at adeville@coastsidenatureprogram.net  if you have any other questions or would like an application. We look forward to working with you in the future.