Our policies and procedures let you know how our staff will guide, support and keep your children safe whilst they're in our care. They also assist the staff teams when making decisions to offer both consistency and fairness. To ensure the policies are in line with current advice, they're regularly reviewed and we take instruction from Ofsted, as well as ongoing guidance from local authorities and National Governing Bodies of Sport. Added to our feedback from parents, staff and of course children, we ensure our policies service all our users.
Below is the essence of our key policies. Our full policies can be read at the camp or if you wish to read them before, please contact our Central Office for a copy.
We've always put the safety of the children and staff at camp first.
Our dedicated team are always fully up to date with the current guidance and we have all the safety measures put in place to be able to deliver maximum fun in a safe environment.
We’ve developed 4 key strategies to make sure we're following best practice, known as the Barracudas 4C’s. Get the full information here.
To grow, learn and thrive children need an environment where they feel secure, respected and encouraged. Each group agrees how they'll interact with each other in their first session together, in essence creating their own set of rules. The group leader is there to promote a positive environment that accepts differences and encourages children to be considerate in their actions and words.
Should the good atmosphere of the group be compromised by disruptive or inappropriate actions and words, staff will remind, explain and aim to resolve the issue. Depending on the extent of the infringement and the frequency, we may have to exclude a child from the camp.
Bullying is not tolerated at Barracudas. Any such behaviour will be treated seriously and staff will intervene at the earliest possible stage. Our policy contains procedures to deal with bullying behaviour in 3 clearly defined steps; preventing, identifying and taking action. Throughout camp, we emphasise the importance of our code of conduct with the children and role model expected behaviour.
Barracudas Safeguarding Statement
Barracudas is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We will create an environment in which children feel safe. Any suspicions or allegations of child abuse will be taken seriously; and responded to swiftly and appropriately.
All staff working with children therefore have a duty in law to act if they consider a child is at risk or makes a disclosure. Our staff act in accordance with the procedures of the relevant local authority for each specific camp location.
On camp, the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is the Early Years Manager should you wish to speak to them. The company Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Sarah Price who can be reached at our Head Office on 01480 467567.
Any confidential or sensitive information we receive about your child is only shared with staff on a need to know basis and never with another parent or child. This applies to both verbal and written information. Once the camp is closed information is stored securely in line with our data protection policy.
Our camps aim to provide equality of opportunity for all children in our care and take positive actions to eliminate discrimination. Barracudas is committed to the principles of British Values and makes sure they're applied to all areas of our operation.
Barracudas is fundamentally linked to promoting a healthy lifestyle. We nurture a link with sport and fun, encouraging participation long after children have attended. Our staff role model sun safety and there's always plenty of water available around the camp for free access.
All children bring a packed lunch and we offer advice in the parent pack about the best content to keep energy levels high for a full day of physical activity. There are also two other breaks during the day for refreshment. We have a no nuts policy at camp and ask that packed lunches and snacks don't contain any nuts.
If your child is unwell, we ask that you do not send them to camp in order to contain any germs or viruses that may spread. Let us know and we'll confirm when we can welcome them back. We'll also let you know if we have any reported cases of more serious illnesses at the registration desk.
If illness develops during the day, we'll let you know and ask that you collect them to be cared for at home.
In addition to our usual rigorous health and hygiene policies we also have our COVID policy to ensure ultimate protection of your children at camp.
The health and safety of your child is taken very seriously and we will do all that is reasonable and practicable to protect the health, safety and welfare of all children in our care, along with staff and any other visitors to our sites.
We have formalised systems of proactive and reactive checks and assessments to keep the equipment, sessions and children safe at all times. Our staff have specific training to understand their role in our safe systems of work cycle.
If you're still not sure your child would love to join Barracudas Activity Day Camps this year and you haven't been to us before we have a special promise for you. Your child can come to camp, meet the FUN staff and try the awesome activities and if after the first day they don't love it, let us know and we'll try even harder on day two. If your child still doesn't think we're great after the second day, we'll be really disappointed but we'll give you all your money back, including the days your child has already attended and the days they have not, and also a free day to try again next year! No admin, no questions!