06/01/2022

Meet the Barracudas camp team

When you put your child in our care, you’ll want to know that we have the highest standard of staff on camp.

All our seasonal team are enhanced DBS checked and have to complete thorough training before they can work at camp. But it’s not just about the logistics, you can be reassured that your camp staff will bring enthusiasm and joy to the role. This means your child will be inspired at camp, and have the best experience.

We wanted to introduce to you just some of the staff entertaining your child in the school holidays. Matt, our Cambridge Long Road Camp Manager who works at Cambridge Long Road Sixth Form College as Sports Services Manager during term time, gives us an insight into working at Barracudas here. 

Matt says:

I started working for Barracudas as a red shirt in the Easter Holidays 2021. I saw the organisation being advertised through my fulltime job at Long Road Sixth Form. After spending the beginning of the year in another lockdown I decided that I wanted to be out as much as possible so rather than just being at home relaxing in the holidays I could go and do some extra work and be outdoors.

After enjoying my first camp I was encouraged to sign up for the May half term camp. Whilst working as a red shirt, I also had the opportunity to do some training with the blue shirt team to prepare me for a more senior role, based on my age and experience, in future seasons. This was a great experience and I was pleased to be offered the Camp Manager role for the Summer Holidays. I enjoyed my position at camp so much that I signed up for the October half term and was again offered the Camp Manager role. I hope to continue working for Barracudas again in 2022 at as many camps as possible.

I work with sixth form students between the ages of 16 and 19 years old for my full-time job. When I started work for Barracudas it was a nice change to return to working with younger groups of ages 4 ½ to 14 years old. It was in the summer camp in particular, as a Camp Manager, that made me think about exploring a new path way in my career and to look into primary school teaching.

It was never something that had crossed my mind to teach in that sector of education but after receiving some really positive feedback from parents of the children on camp, as well as staff who work all year round at the college where the camp was based, it made me realise this is something I would like to explore.

That’s really why I would like to work with Barracudas in 2022 to continue gaining further experience working with those age groups. It's also really useful to have the interaction with parents of children between these ages to understand more about their priorities and experiences.

You can hear directly from Matt speaking about his time at camp as a Group Leader on our Meet the Camp Team page! Want to meet more of our team? Here's Senior Sports Instructors Joel and Nat!

Barracudas would like to thank Matt for all his hard work at camp. He’s a great asset to our team at Cambridge Long Road camp. We look forward to a fun-filled year and look forward to him returning!