30/08/2024
#summeroffun 2024
We certainly had a #summeroffun in 2024! With 54 activity camps and 27 specialist courses, we operated 247 weeks (about 4 ½ years!) in total with over 1,300 staff and almost 17,500 children!
We can’t begin to share all the individual moments of fun and adventure with you, but here’s a snapshot of summer 2024.
New camps
Barracudas was super excited to launch 5 brand new camps this year. We were pleased to extend amazing school holiday experiences to a whole new group of children in Abingdon, Bushey, Guildford, Harpenden and Ripley.
Weekly theme
Our weekly themes are going from strength to strength! Each week at camp is unique, so whether kids join us for 1 day, or throughout the summer, there’s always something new to enjoy. With popular activities tweaked to the theme and special art projects, children love getting involved. The best part is at the end of the week, we bring the party vibe with our Friday Finale where we have special themed events and invite children to dress up (if they want to!)
This summer, the children enjoyed taking part in Royal Rabble, Sports Stars, Marine Mayhem, Super Stars, Crazy Colours and Futuristic Fun!
Specialist courses
As well as our activity camps, Barracudas also offers a wide range of specialist courses. With 27 different courses this summer, we’ve loved seeing children develop new skills and grow in confidence!
Official football courses
This year we grew on our courses designed and led by the professionals! We partnered with Norwich City CSF with courses running at Cambridge, Bedford, Huntingdon and Norwich. West Ham United Foundation inspired football fanatics at Chelmsford, Harlow, Romford and Upminster and Palace for Life Foundation coaches led the way at our Croydon camp.
Coding courses
We upped the anti with even more specialist coding courses, developed and run by Blue Shift Coding, for the tecchies this summer. We introduced AI & Machine Learning at Streatham & Clapham and Watford. Children delved into Minecraft at Chelmsford, High Wycombe, Welwyn, Wokingham and Woodford. Chigwell camp enjoyed Make Code and Micro Bit Coding was at Cambridge and Norwich. Our popular Roblox course ran at Barnet, Bedford, Cambridge, Chislehurst, Letchworth and Twickenham.
Baking
We love seeing children’s skills develop in our baking course, delivered by the experts at Smart Raspberry at our Welwyn camp. Some delicious treats were made this summer!
Charity
Barracudas is proud to be partnering with Save The Children again this year. We helped to raise money for this fantastic charity through online booking donations and fun activities at camp. We had collection boxes at camp for parents to contribute to as well as an online fundraising page.
We look forward to totalling up the amount raised over this summer. Keep an eye out for this to be revealed on our social media channels. Your donations will make a huge difference to many children around the world. A big thank you to our bookers, children and staff for making a difference.
Parent recommendations
We’re all about sharing the love at Barracudas and we value the power of recommendations. To thank our bookers for introducing a new child to our camps, we offer great rewards, both for them and their friend.
Our recommend a friend scheme gives unlimited credits for people who recommend us and money off for the new booker. For every booker a parent introduces to us, we give a £20 credit and we give £20 of the new bookers first booking with us. It really is win-win!
This year over 500 people booked with us based on their friend’s recommendation. A big thank you to our champions and welcome on board to our new families!
Parent reviews
Speaking of recommendations, we’re proud to have over 1,600 independent reviews and a 5 star rating on Trustpilot. Over 100 new ratings came through just over summer this year.
Here’s just a selection of the comments we received for our summer camps:
“Perfect play scheme. The location is great, the activities are great, the staff are great. I drop my son off utterly guilt free (for four full weeks!), assured he’ll have a great (screen free!) time. We’ll be back next summer, if not Easter.” Beth
“My daughter attended the Godalming Barrow Hills camp for the first time this summer and absolutely loved it. She has been to other summer clubs before and never wanted to go back but every day she was asking if was going tomorrow and already wants me to book for next summer! The staff are friendly, child focused and genuine. I felt no guilt dropping her off at all.” Liz
“Barracudas is an exceptional summer camp that provided my son with an action-packed, unforgettable week. The wide range of activities kept him engaged and excited every day, helping him develop confidence in a supportive environment. The camp is well-organized and the staff are fantastic, ensuring a safe and fun experience for all the kids. I’d confidently rate Barracudas a 10 out of 10 and highly recommend it to parents looking for a dynamic and well-run camp. My son can't wait to go back next summer!” James
“Bedford Barracudas camp is 5* brilliant. From our first nervous visit, the staff made each drop off and pick up feel like a party. Despite our son being nervous, he always left with a smile. Compared to childcare when he was younger, it's also brilliant value too. I only need to work a couple more hours more than I could with him at home to pay it back - and that isn't even the purpose of booking (Ok maybe it is). LOVE it. Definitely book if you're in Bedford!” Graham
“My kids attended Barracudas Bishop’s Stortford for 3 weeks this summer holiday. This is the 3rd year for them and they still absolutely loved it. There were a great range of activities, sports, art and craft, swimming, drama etc, both of my kids can find their favourite activities. Everyday they got back home bubbling after such a fun day. The camp was very well managed, and the staff were friendly and helpful. Any concerns and problems were immediately addressed and resolved. I’d highly recommend it to anyone.” Liyuan
To see all reviews, check out our Trustpilot page.
Ofsted ratings
For additional reassurance all our camps are Ofsted registered. This also gives parents the benefit of being able to use Tax-Free Childcare and Childcare Vouchers to pay for their school holiday activities at Barracudas.
This summer several of our camps were inspected by the officials and we’re proud to confirm we measured up well!
Inspectors across the board recognised our focus on children’s safety on camp, our wide and exciting range of activities, how children develop and grow through their Barracudas camp experience and our high quality staff and robust staff training. It was so satisfying to also hear about the strong relationships built at camp.
Read more about our summer camp Ofsted ratings.
Over and out!
That’s wrap on our summer 2024 activity camps. We shouldn’t be surprised, but once again the summer season seems to have flown by in a flash! We’ve had a summer to remember and would like to say a huge thank you to all the children, parents and staff who have made every day special.
Take a look at our weekly highlights for a more in depth view of what we got up to each week at camp this summer. From our best moments at camp and favourite photos to our weekly theme fun and stand out staff member.
We’re left with some fantastic memories and look forward to welcoming children back to camp soon!