diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 4e3b115a4d..afea6bc081 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ Internal Changes
 
 **Bug Fixes**
 
+- **Helm chart**: fix problem with missing network policies preventing access to sessions
+- **Helm chart**: use the session specific affinity, node selector and tolerations and not the general configuration reserved for Renku services
 - **Helm chart**: use the correct default value for the Renku OAuth client in Gitlab
 
 0.39.2
diff --git a/docs/spelling_wordlist.txt b/docs/spelling_wordlist.txt
index 59be473e19..5b035334da 100644
--- a/docs/spelling_wordlist.txt
+++ b/docs/spelling_wordlist.txt
@@ -274,6 +274,7 @@ terraform
 th
 timestamp
 tinkerpop
+tolerations
 toolchain
 Traefik
 truthy
diff --git a/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/network-policy.yaml b/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/network-policy.yaml
index 84bfd4fa0c..cd074dd8a0 100644
--- a/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/network-policy.yaml
+++ b/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/network-policy.yaml
@@ -22,46 +22,74 @@ spec:
 apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
 kind: NetworkPolicy
 metadata:
-  name: {{ template "renku.notebooks.fullname" . }}-ssh-sessions
+  name: {{ template "renku.notebooks.fullname" . }}-ssh-jumphost
 spec:
   podSelector:
     matchLabels:
-      app.kubernetes.io/component: jupyterserver
-      app.kubernetes.io/instance: {{ .Release.Name }}
-      app.kubernetes.io/name: amalthea
+      app: {{ template "renku.notebooks.name" . }}-ssh
   policyTypes:
-    - Ingress
-  ingress:
-    - from:
+    - Egress
+  egress:
+    - to:
         - podSelector:
             matchLabels:
-              app: {{ template "renku.notebooks.name" . }}-ssh
+              app.kubernetes.io/component: jupyterserver
+              app.kubernetes.io/instance: {{ .Release.Name }}
+              app.kubernetes.io/name: amalthea
       ports:
         - port: ssh
           protocol: TCP
+    - ports:
+        - protocol: UDP
+          port: 53
+        - protocol: TCP
+          port: 53
 ---
 apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
 kind: NetworkPolicy
 metadata:
-  name: {{ template "renku.notebooks.fullname" . }}-ssh-sessions-egress
+  name: {{ template "renku.notebooks.fullname" . }}-sessions
 spec:
   podSelector:
     matchLabels:
-      app: {{ template "renku.notebooks.name" . }}-ssh
+      app.kubernetes.io/component: jupyterserver
+      app.kubernetes.io/instance: {{ .Release.Name }}
+      app.kubernetes.io/name: amalthea
   policyTypes:
+    - Ingress
     - Egress
-  egress:
-    - to:
+  ingress:
+    - from:
+      # Allow ssh ingress to sessions only for the ssh jump host
         - podSelector:
             matchLabels:
-              app.kubernetes.io/component: jupyterserver
-              app.kubernetes.io/instance: {{ .Release.Name }}
-              app.kubernetes.io/name: amalthea
+              app: {{ template "renku.notebooks.name" . }}-ssh
       ports:
         - port: ssh
           protocol: TCP
-    - ports:
-        - protocol: UDP
-          port: 53
+    - from:
+      # Allow ingress to the oauth2proxy for anyone
+        - ipBlock:
+            cidr: 0.0.0.0/0
+      ports:
         - protocol: TCP
-          port: 53
+          port: 4180
+  egress:
+    - to:
+      # Allow DNS resolution (internal and external)
+      ports:
+      - port: 53
+        protocol: UDP
+      - port: 53
+        protocol: TCP
+    - to:
+      # Allow access to any port/protocol as long as it is directed
+      # outside of the cluster. This is done by excluding
+      # IP ranges which are reserved for private networking from
+      # the allowed range.
+      - ipBlock:
+          cidr: 0.0.0.0/0
+          except:
+          - 10.0.0.0/8
+          - 172.16.0.0/12
+          - 192.168.0.0/16
diff --git a/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/statefulset.yaml b/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/statefulset.yaml
index 5f00c22045..e49a72feb3 100644
--- a/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/statefulset.yaml
+++ b/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/statefulset.yaml
@@ -135,17 +135,17 @@ spec:
             - name: NB_SESSIONS__CA_CERTS__SECRETS
               value: |
                 {{- .Values.global.certificates.customCAs | toYaml | nindent 16 }}
-            {{- with .Values.sessionNodeSelector }}
+            {{- with .Values.notebooks.sessionNodeSelector }}
             - name: NB_SESSIONS__NODE_SELECTOR
               value: |
                 {{- toYaml . | nindent 16 }}
             {{- end }}
-            {{- with .Values.sessionAffinity }}
+            {{- with .Values.notebooks.sessionAffinity }}
             - name: NB_SESSIONS__AFFINITY
               value: |
                 {{- toYaml . | nindent 16 }}
             {{- end }}
-            {{- with .Values.sessionTolerations }}
+            {{- with .Values.notebooks.sessionTolerations }}
             - name: NB_SESSIONS__TOLERATIONS
               value: |
                 {{- toYaml . | nindent 16 }}
diff --git a/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/test.yaml b/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/test.yaml
index 948794631f..d162aaf719 100644
--- a/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/test.yaml
+++ b/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/test.yaml
@@ -68,17 +68,17 @@ spec:
         {{ end }}
         - name: NB_K8S__RENKU_NAMESPACE
           value: {{ $.Release.Namespace | quote }}
-        {{- with $.Values.sessionNodeSelector }}
+        {{- with $.Values.notebooks.sessionNodeSelector }}
         - name: NB_SESSIONS__NODE_SELECTOR
           value: |
             {{- toYaml . | nindent 12 }}
         {{- end }}
-        {{- with $.Values.sessionAffinity }}
+        {{- with $.Values.notebooks.sessionAffinity }}
         - name: NB_SESSIONS__AFFINITY
           value: |
             {{- toYaml . | nindent 12 }}
         {{- end }}
-        {{- with $.Values.sessionTolerations }}
+        {{- with $.Values.notebooks.sessionTolerations }}
         - name: NB_SESSIONS__TOLERATIONS
           value: |
             {{- toYaml . | nindent 12 }}