This Camp Manual is designed to help you decide what kind of camp you would like to provide in your area. There are samples of forms in the back to use as guideline. This is your chapters’ camp and your committee may use their own discretion on how to run the camp. If you have any questions or need help, please do not hesitate to contact the Branch Office.

Getting Started

When deciding if you want to start a camp in your area, one of the first things you must do is select three or four people to sit on a camp committee. Each person should be assigned certain tasks as they arise so that the workload does not become too much for one person.

It is important to look at the needs of your community to see what type of camp would be best suited to your children and the amount of weeks your camp could be filled.  This means that you may need to conduct research into the camps, which are currently being offered, so you are not duplicating services that are already established (unless there is demand). This may require a survey of students, parents, CPF members, and/or teachers to see what age group, format (residential vs day camp), cost and program would best serve the community.

If you find that there would be a big demand for day camps there is a summer student grant through Human Resources where you can apply for one or two University students to help organize and run the camps six to eight weeks.

Day Camps

For day camps, children are usually brought to the camp facility by their parents/guardians in the morning and are picked up some time in the afternoon. Day camps usually last for a one-week period and you may consider the possibility of holding a day camp with a different theme each week or for a different age group each week.

We have a camp manual available at the Provincial Office with lots of activities, games and ideas for you to incorporate into the camp if you decide your chapter would like to provide one. If you are thinking of starting a day camp there are some factors your committee must take into consideration first.

1.                  You will need to find a facility that will be able to hold the appropriate number of children and has suitable activity and washroom facilities.

2.                  You will need to select staff to facilitate the camp; a University student, preferably in a bachelor of education program, a teacher or someone who has worked in a recreation center before. This person would be your coordinator, the person in charge of the other staff, and serves as the liaison with CPF.

3.                  The staff ratio must be one adult for every 12 children.

4.                  A budget must be drawn up including the cost of renting the facilities (if there is a cost), paying the counselors, buying the supplies, and cost of any outings or food needed.

5.                  You should determine from the budget what you should charge for registration. (This should not include the grant you might receive from Human Resources in case you do not receive it for some reason.)

6.                  Children do not want to go to school in the summer so you must work hard to make sure the programs and activities are fun and interesting.

7.                  You must decide on your age group but we have found in the past that most of the children who attend are students going into grades 2, 3 and 4 so you could make it for ages 6 to 10.

If you are applying for a Human Resource Student Grant:

In January call the Human Resource center near you and ask them to send you an application form to apply for funding to hire a university student for the summer. They will put your name on a waiting list to send out the applications in February/ March. It used to be that you would receive 90% of the funding up front but know you need to have the funding to pay the students and then be reimbursed by Human Resources. You can say that you could not possibly have this money before hand and they usually make an exception for non-profit groups.

Your application should arrive around the middle of March to be filled out and returned before the end of March. Under Job Title, fill out two positions for camp counselors. They must have experience with children and be bilingual. Must be organized, energetic, trustworthy and self motivated.  Must be able to plan and implement activities where children will build their confidence in using their second language.

In the application part, you want the start date to be 1 - 2 weeks before the actual camp itself starts. This will give them time to organize and buy supplies for the camp.

In the form under the number of jobs; put 2, number of weeks put 16 (2x8), hrs in the week put 40, total hours 640, rate per hour at least $6.00

Addresses and phone numbers of the Human Resource Centres are in the section at the back of this manual.

Residential Camps

A residential camp is one where campers stay at the camp facility for the entire length of time, including overnight. Residential camps usually last for up to one week. If you are considering sponsoring a residential camp, there are several factors you must take into consideration.

1.                  A residential camp would need a staff to stay at the facility for the duration of the camp to supervise the children 24 hours a day. The ratio of adults to campers must be at least one to nine. Some camp staff, if not all, should have first-aid training, and life-guarding experience would be important if swimming or boating in an unsupervised area is one of the activities.

2.                  Three meals a day along with snacks will have to be supplied. These are growing children who are going to be very active and very hungry. Careful consideration must be given to food selection (taking into account allergies, vegetarian or other special diets, and nutritional value). Water must be available at all times.

3.                  The camp facility must have; suitable sleeping quarters, play areas and washroom facilities.

4.                  Activities will need to be planned for each day since the children should be in an organized environment from the time they rise until bedtime. (Sample included in back section)

5.                  Campers are expected to SPEAK FRENCH all day, everyday for the length of the camp.

6.                  Residential camps are usually more appropriate for older students who are comfortable being away from their families for a length of time.

7.                  You need to make sure you have a nurse at the camp or who lives nearby and would be on call.

8.                  You should find out the exact amount of time to drive to the nearest hospital or medical centre.

Camp Registration

Application Form

Decide what information is necessary for you to know about each camper and family. The basic information should include the name of the camper, the name of parent/guardian, mailing address, telephone numbers at work and home, e-mail address, medical information (allergies, diet restrictions, current medications, family doctor name and telephone number and Medicare number) and a parent signature and date. Other useful details may include campers age, school, if there is any one else that will be picking them up at the end of the camp day, and if they have ever attended a camp before.

It is important that all of the spaces on the application are filled out. The release section on the form MUST be signed by a parent or guardian.

Your chapter can have a policy on cancellations and refunds. If a student cancels less than so many days before the camp then a refund can be given but you could keep the $25 administration fee, which would be the CPF membership fee.

Always keep a waiting list if you find the camps are in high demand you can always find volunteer junior counselors (or you could pay them a honorarium of $10 a day). The junior counselor has opportunity  to use their French during the summer and their experience looks good on a résumé.

Registration

There are two ways you can deal with registration for your camp. One is to send out brochures or pamphlets that the parents fill out and send back to you or to the school to be picked up. The other is you can send out notices and have a night where the parents come to a registration session and fill out the applications at this time. You can also advertise in your school newsletters and local newspaper in addition to these.

If you send out the camp forms:

Make sure all the relevant information is provided in the pamphlet or page so parents are well informed about the camp and they know what to do with the application. (Samples Included in the back section)

All applicants should be returned to one person, example: Camp Co-coordinator or President (whoever has been selected). It is easier to keep track this way.

Camp applications must be processed and dated as they arrive. This allows for an accurate list and the number of registered campers to be updated. This is important for first-come, first-serve registrations, where a waiting list may be required.

If you have decided to have registration night:

Publicity must be done to make parents aware of the date, time and location of the registration night. Consider sending notices home with children from school, announcing it in the media, putting up posters in high-traffic areas, or having it in conjunction with another community event where parents will be gathered.

Supplies for registration night:

• a poster at the entrance announcing registration room and procedures
• a reception table before or in the registration room
• CPF Camp Registration forms (numbered)
• highlighters, pens and pencils
• tables and chairs for parents to sit and fill out forms
• registration tables set up with a CPF representative at each
• receipt books
• post-it notes
• CPF brochures and display
• envelopes

Suggested procedure:

As a person arrives, he or she receives a numbered registration form and an information sheet at the reception table. The person then fills in the form and takes it to one of the registration tables where a CPF representative waits. Ensure that there are an adequate number of registration tables for quick and easy processing. 

At the registration table, the CPF representative double checks the application to make sure it is complete, asks any necessary questions ( ie. Allergy clarification), provides any necessary information to the parent( ie. cancellation policy), highlight any medical or dietary concerns for camp staff, collect the camp fee and issue a receipt. Make sure a waiting list is set up if the maximum number of registration forms has been met. As the camp start date approaches, there may be cancellations and some campers will be allowed in from the wait list or you can tell them more staff might be addes. No camp fee should be collected from those on the waiting list until the child has been placed in the camp.

The fee should be sealed in an envelope with clear indication of who made the payment and the name of the child attending camp. These payments must be supervised and kept safe at all time until the end of the evening. Make sure there is someone to count and deposit the money with you.

ORGANIZATION OF CAMPS

BASIC TIME LINE

January

• Select Camp Committee and try to meet at least once a month till May.
• Contact Human Resources Development and ask for a Summer Career Placements application to hire a student be mailed to you as soon as they are available.

February

• Look for locations for your camp. Ask the principal for permission if your camp is at a school.
• Start putting information together to have something for your chapter newsletter if you are sending one out at this time.

March

• Receive your application to be filled out and returned immediately.
• Contact Branch Office to let them know your chapter’s intent to hold a camp, if not already done. Some information can be put in the next Provincial newsletter.

April     

• Have camp information ready to be printed when notified of approval to hire students.
• Place an ad looking for bilingual university students who can create and implement activities for young French Immersion children, unless you already know of someone who can do this.   

May

• Notify students you would like to interview. Do this with someone bilingual or with your FSL Supervisor.
• Hire students. The head counselor should be paid more as they have more responsibility.
• Send out the information through schools or have your registration night.
• Post in weekly papers or “things to do” section of the papers for free.  

June      

• Students should start one to two weeks before camp to put together a schedule and arrange all the activities.
• They are to put a plan together of what they will be doing for the camp. (Samples included in the back section)
• They will need money to buy materials for the camp.
• Any day outings for the camp should be planned now.
• Lifeguards should be hired if needed.
• Send in Insurance information.

July/August

• Meet the camp staff and go over all procedures before camp weeks start.
• Head Counselor should keep track of all expenses
• Check over any medical problems that might need attention and keep them all together on one separate form.
• Try to have someone on call to drop in that week of camp, maybe for the first morning of that week or to be available if there are any problems.
• Get some photos for an album, for CPF Provincial newsletter or your local newspaper.
• Make an evaluation form for parents, especially if this is your first camp.
• Put a camp report together. This helps the next year’s committee of things that worked and some things that might not have worked so well.
• Thank volunteers who helped out with a small gift of appreciation.

Included in the Camp Manual

for the Counselors

§                    Theme Days

§                    Ideas for Tours

§                    Suggested Supplies

§                    Suggested list to ask parents to bring in to help with some supplies

§                    Suggested day of activities

§                    Camp Insurance form

§                    Registration form

§                    Waiver form

§                    Letter to parents to let them know what you are planning for the week.

§                    Student Activity Report form

§                    Permission Slip if they are going on a day trip or swimming.

All these forms are found on a disk in the Camp Manual the head counselor will receive from the camp committee.