Sometimes a disaster can bring out the best in people. Despite uncertainty from the Government until the 11th hour as to whether summer camps would be allowed to run, XUK Camps offered 700 days of childcare this summer, employing 50 staff to ensure those children would have fun and a sense of the old normality with their peers.
And it was wonderful. The feedback we had from parents was extraordinary, but the skipping, smiling faces running up the path each day were all we needed to confirm we made the right choice.
Back in April we had to announce that our residential camps (which make up over 90 per cent of our business) would not run. From that moment on we focused on whether we could run our day camps within the Government guidelines and still guarantee fun; it was something of a Kafkaesque process at times.
Each set of guidelines issued referred to other sets of guidelines, sometimes contradictory, rarely concise. Drawing up risk assessments, rewriting policies and procedures, refunding everyone who could no longer hold out for a place: parents work – children need looking after.
And so, while we met the end of the summer with a sense of relief, the shadow looming over us is ‘what now?’
Summer camps are a year-round business. We spend ten months of the year marketing, planning, recruiting, training and booking, which culminate in two summer months where we generate income. As things stand, we will not be able to run our residential camps next year. Our day camps will still need to be run at reduced capacity. This is not sustainable.
While we appreciate no-one can prophesise what will be happening globally with the virus next summer, we cannot wait until next summer to begin preparations. Without some form of certainty – be it good news or bad – we are in limbo. This leaves our campers, their parents and our staff in limbo too.
If the pandemic has brought everyone together on a single issue, it is that children must be prioritised. Society may need to accept other sacrifices in order to keep schools open. In terms of teaching, offering new opportunities, exploring science, sport, art and drama, after-school clubs and camps also have an essential role to play in a child’s life. Children need to be active, meet other children from different schools, areas and cultures. Without these opportunities we increase the risk of social anxiety, mental health issues and obesity in the next generation.
Without support, guidance and clarity from the Government, and soon, we may see summer childcare providers unable to keep going, and all the effects this will have on our main priority: children.