The Activity Day

Our standard hours are 8.30am to 5.30pm. You can drop children off between 8.30am and 9.30am and collect at the end of the day between 4.30pm and 5.30pm. For even more flexibility we offer Early & Late Clubs which extends the day from 8.00am to 6.00pm. (Activity sessions start at 9.30am and finish at 4.30pm.)

Dropping your child off is normally a very quick process but please allow extra time on your child's first day to register. You'll be required to fill in your child's Essential Information form online before they can join us at camp.

Barracudas now operates a contactless check in. You will check your child in to camp and sign them out with a unique QR code which is sent to you with your booking confirmation. You can also get handy access to this if your download our free parent app. If another person will be dropping off or collecting your child, please add them to your list of contacts in the Essential Information form and send them the QR code.

Where possible, please avoid dropping off or collecting your child within the 9.30am to 4.30pm period as children and staff will be taking part in activity sessions. If you do need to drop off or collect within these hours please call the camp directly first to arrange this with the Camp Manager.

The day is organised into six one-hour sessions. Children will be given a choice of at least two activities in each session. We offer a range of multi activities so there are choices for children whether they're into sports or more creative activities. There's a short morning break, a lunch break and a short afternoon break for the children during the day.

Don't worry - your child will be well cared for until you arrive. If you're likely to be delayed after 5.30pm, please call the camp so our staff can let your child/ren know. We'll book them into the Late Club and you can pay the £5 when you collect them.

If you think you'll be later than 6.00pm please arrange for someone else to collect your child. We're only registered to care for children until 6.00pm and are obliged to notify Children's Services of any child still on site after this time. Any parents collecting children after 6.00pm will also incur a charge of £5 for every 5 minutes which will be applied to their account.

All of the activities are included in the price as opposed to needing to book these individually. We have 30 sessions each week for which children will have a choice of activities. Our activities are designed to be appropriate for the developmental stage of each age group. 

What's on offer may vary between camps depending on resources available. Very popular activities such as swimming are offered at least once a week (only available to camps that have a swimming pool & is subject to Lifeguard availability). Some activities have restricted numbers and where this is the case they will be rotated fairly amongst the children in the group during the week. Should we need to withdraw any of the activities, for example as a result of unsuitable weather conditions or equipment failure, we'll re-instate them as soon as is practically possible.

Please note: specialist activities such as motor sports, archery, fencing and inflatables will not be scheduled on our timetables for our half term camps. 

Yes motorsports is offered as part of the normal activity programme and we'll always try to ensure that each child is given the chance to try this activity. We have new electric vehicles as part of our genuine aim to be kinder to the environment and help to protect the planet for the future of our children – and future generations. For children under 7 years old we provide electric go-karts.

Motorsports sessions are run on smaller ratios, meaning we can not offer to full groups within 1 session. Our staff will fairly distribute the participation of these session across the children in the group.

In the event of wet weather or equipment failure however we cannot always guarantee that all children will have an opportunity to try motorsports. If this happens priority will be given to children who've booked into our Motor Mania Skills Builder course.

Please note: Motor sports activities and Skills Builder course is not available at half term camps.

There is a swimming section in the Essential Information form.

We ask if your child can swim 25 metres unaided. If you say ‘No’ your child will be given buoyancy aids in line with their age, height and the depth of the pool and only be able to swim in the shallow end.

If you say ‘Yes’ they'll need to demonstrate their ability to the lifeguards by confidently swimming 2-3 widths of the pool. If they put their feet down or display a lack of water confidence, they will also be given buoyancy aids for their session in the shallow end. 

All children under 8 years old are only permitted to swim in the shallow end of the pool. We'll supply all buoyancy aids needed.

We send reminders about this in our Essential Information reminder before they are due to start at camp.

All our Lifeguards hold valid Lifeguard qualifications and must also perform a competency test with us before working on camp. The staff to child ratios during swimming sessions is 1:5 for under 7 years and 1:10 for 8 years and above. There will be a member of staff in the water at all times for under 7's.

Staff are available to support children in changing rooms in accordance with their need, i.e. greater support for the youngest children with staff allowing independence and privacy as they get older. Staff will always enter the changing room if there is a specific need or deal with an emergency and although we aim to match genders, it is not always possible. Children aged 4-6 years may change in the same area and those aged 7+ will change in separate gendered areas.

Please note we will swim as often as we can, but swimming sessions are subject to pool and lifeguard availability.

Skills Builder courses are available to book for any children attending Barracudas for a full week or 3 days consecutively (Only Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday) . Although it's not always necessary to pre-book these extra courses, demand does vary from camp to camp, and places on each of the courses are limited. In order for children to benefit from the general activity programme and the variety of activities on offer, only one Skills Builder course can be booked per week.

The Skills Builder session will run for one session each day of the week. This will replace a general activity session. Children booked on to the course will leave their group to take part in the specialist activity and then return to their group afterwards.

Please note: Skills Builder courses will not be available during half term camps.

We can't organise the weather, but we do have a wet weather programme which swings into operation at the first sign of rain. As we provide holiday childcare, we always have the British weather in the back of our minds when selecting venues for Barracudas camps. Our well-appointed schools have excellent facilities, so we can always offer a wide and varied wet weather programme. Some activities will be withdrawn in wet weather for safety reasons.

In our Parent App the timetable will now be available to view for your child's group each day! This is a great opportunity for you to sit down with your child and discuss which options they chose and to find out a bit more about their day. Timetables are confirmed on the day of camp and we don't provide this in advance as factors such as weather could lead to changes. This could mean that any discussions you had with your children over activity choices could lead to confusion. You can find an example timetable if you click on the appropriate age group on our Activities page.

We have a Theme Day each Friday at camp. This is a great excuse for everyone to dress up and have a good time. You don't have to spend hours making or fortunes buying costumes in advance, unless you want to! Children will be able to make outfits and props during camp. So whether they've always wanted to be their favourite pop star, sports star, pirate or superhero, their dreams can come true during Theme Days! 

Yes, each child will be assigned a Keyworker, also known as their Group Leader, during their time at camp. They will be responsible for your child's welfare at Barracudas. You'll be notified of who this is when you arrive at camp. You can speak to their Group Leader at any time, just contact the camp directly to arrange this.