Roots’ physical home is The Children’s Allotment, a beautiful, tranquil green space just steps from the bustling streets of East Oxford.

The Children’s Allotment site, until 2018, was a dilapidated plant nursery overgrown by brambles, next to an allotment site that had been disused for 10 years. A group of parents, community members and educators were deeply inspired by its magical potential - its orchard, growing areas, cabin and poly-tunnels whose potential were waiting to be unlocked!

They formed a cooperative called The Children’s Allotment and set about transforming the nursery into a welcoming community resource - a wild space where local families could spend time with their children, build rich social networks through community gatherings, activities and events and meet other caregivers.

One of the projects launched in recent years by The Children’s Allotment, in partnership with Oxford Poetry Library, is The Many Voices Collection - providing a collection of books featuring Black characters, written by Black writers, or which centre an anti-racist message, that are free to be borrowed and enjoyed by children and adults alike.

We are so proud and delighted to be partnering with this wonderful space and to host our programme here! You can read more about The Children’s Allotment on their website.

At Roots, we are committed to accessibility in all areas and this applies also to fees. We offer sliding scale fees depending on household income and welcome transparent dialogue around this. As a new organisation, we are unfortunately not state-funded or grant-funded and therefore rely on fees to run this programme. This structure includes:

• Annual Fees: Sliding scale between £1500 - £2000 per term depending on household income
• A recommended enrolment fee: One-off payment when your child first joins the programme. We recommend means-based fees, but families can choose what to pay. We do request a minimum of £150.
• Deposit upon confirmation of place: Payable on confirmation of place. This is equivalent to one month of fees, and will go towards final payment when your child is ready to leave Roots.

We recognise that finances within a family structure are a complex matter and most often involve collaborative decision-making that can sometimes feel strained. If none of the brackets above outline your position or the fees are a barrier to your child/ren participating, please be in touch so that we can discuss this further.

We have kept fees as low as possible and are a not-for-profit organisation. If and when we generate a financial surplus, any extra funds will be put straight back into growing and expanding the project. Our accessibility aspirations in the long-term are to explore: offering bursaries/scholarships, providing low-cost/free community events and ensuring wages for our facilitators above the low baseline that we have set them at for the start-up phase.

Top

We are in the process of formalising our legal structure, setting up as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. By the time we launch we will be formally registered with Companies House and the Charity Commission.

As part of our partnership with the Children’s Allotment, we will also come under the umbrella of their exciting Multi-Stakeholder Cooperative structure, and we will participate in their cooperative governance.

We commit to enshrining the Cooperative Values (self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity) into our ways of working, both internally at Roots, and in our partnership work with The Children’s Allotment.

Top

STEP 1

Fill in the Roots Enrolment Application Form and send it to us at rootsradicallearning@gmail.com

STEP 2

You’ll be invited to a meeting with one of our Facilitators and a member of our Board. This is a warm opportunity for us to get to know you, hear about your child(ren), discuss any special educational or health needs and ask questions in both directions, making sure that Roots feels like the right fit for your family.

STEP 3

If we are able to offer you a place, we’ll send you the Commitment Contract Pack to sign and return to us, and we ask that you pay the enrolment fee and deposit. If we feel like Roots isn’t a good fit for your family, we’ll contact you to explore how best to move forward.

During the enrolment window, all applications will be considered equally. Places will be offered based on philosophical alignment, commitment and to ensure a spread of ages. Once the enrolment window has closed, any remaining or emergent places will be offered first come, first served.

STEP 4

Welcome - You are officially part of Roots! You’ll receive our Roots Handbook with more information about our philosophy and how the programme will work, alongside our Calendar for the year ahead.

STEP 5

All new families are encouraged to participate in a 4-part Compassionate Communication workshop. This explores the different aspects of what makes Roots special - respectful communication tools, building community, supporting ourselves in doing this work and creating consistency between home and Roots. It’s also a chance to connect and deepen relationships with other families involved.

STEP 6

You’re invited to come along to our informal Roots weekly meet-up! Starting in the new year, we’ll host optional, once weekly gatherings to meet other children, parents, board members and facilitators.

What if there are no spaces?

We’re building a Waiting List system, so we can go through this process and offer you a space as soon as one is available. We will give you more information if this is the case!