Booking And Planning A Visit

Booking And Planning A Visit

In the majority of cases throughout the camp season schools will be sharing their holiday with another school. This being so, in order to enjoy the week to the full it is essential that there is close liason between the two schools concerned with regards to a wide variety of considerations. Experience has shown that the closer the two schools work together with respect to trips, spending monies, on the camp recreational organisation (eg treasure hunts, team games, discos and BBQs) and general camp behaviour, the more enjoyable and more easily managed the holiday will prove for all concerned.Schools when sharing the Camp initially have to decide how many children each school will take, the dormitories being of different sizes (24 bed and 36 bed, each split roughly in half by gender). If there is an inbalance of genders rather than cramming too many beds into an area, consideration should be given to all the boys from both schools using one block and the girls using the other.

Then taking into consideration such items as trips, spending monies, and the camp costs for food, accomodation and transport from Salford, a donation amount per child has to be decided upon, and letters of invitation to children sent out. Some schools, particularly if Prestatyn is a new initiative, may find it very useful to have a meeting with the parents of children to attend, inorder to exchange contact information, clothing lists, arrival times and other requirements. Consideration should be given to medical, dietary needs, children's spending money & 'banking' arrangements, sun cream, toiletries and expensive items such as cameras, video games, mobile phones etc.

For some of the children attending it may be the first occasion that they have been away from their parents, it may well be appropriate to consider policies for contact by phone or letter well in advance of the week as this area can prove problematic. A policy for parental visits should be determined, many schools discourage this.

In previous years staff have found it advantageous to prepare children well in advance for the camp routine and the ground rules of teachers and supervisors from both schools, it is hoped that the website will be of some use in assisting this, but again it is an area where inter-school cooperation is essential.

Summary of the camp routine

Booking arrangements regarding transports and admission should, where possible, be made before the holiday. In many instances this may result in a negotiated reducation for entry eg. Rhyl Sun Centre, Welsh Mountain Zoo or as in the case of Conwy Castle free admission for advanced bookings.

Activities and places to visit.

Salford City Council Educational Visits Advice together with a number of relevant LEA Generic Risk Assessments can be accessed from this page.

Booking Procedure

1 The Camp Committee have always endeavoured to be as fair as possible with regards to this difficult issue, the current procedure being slightly complicated, but basically as follows:

2 Schools wishing to go to the Camp find themselves a partner school

3 When the invitation comes from the office to apply for a week at the Camp, this partnership is registered at the office

4 There are four priority bands and each year partnerships work their way up from band four to band one before returnning to band four again

5 All partnerships in band one for a particular year are given their choice of weeks, before any partnerships in band two are considered. Band two partnerships are then given their choice before band three and so on.

6 Priority within bands is determined by a random draw by staff at the Education Office

7 New partnerships start off in band four

8 If partnerships are broken by one school choosing not to attend in a particular week or any other reason, the remaining school's choice of week, or subsequent re-application in a following year by the school dropping out, are considered on merit by the Camp Committee.

Transport

Transport to and from the camp is arranged by the committte on an annual basis and the individual schools need not make any arrangements whatsoever except be ready for collection when required. This will normally be between 11.45am and 1.00pm on departure for Prestatyn and 9.30am for the journey back to Salford.Any school wishing to make their own arrangements for travelling from Salford to Prestatyn or vice versa must inform the Camp Secretary at the Education Office, before initiating such arrangements. A minibus is available for use by all parties visiting the Camp and its use is under the direct control of the Warden. The following notes should be read carefully by all persons proposing to drive the minibus before it is used

Persons authorised/insured to drive the bus;
All drivers must be over 25 years of age
All drivers must have held a full-license for at least a year

Charges for use;
No charge will be made for the use of the bus other than for the cost of fuel
Each user will be responsible for providing fuel for his/her journey, the actual financial arrangements for this should be determined by the schools involved respective of their relative use
At the end of each week the users must ensure the bus is left with a full tank of fuel for the incoming groups ( and likewise the week should begin with a full tank of fuel.)

Seatbelts
The seating capacity of the minibus is 17 (including driver) all seats are fitted with belts. It is a legal responsibility of the driver to ensure that seatbelts are worn by all minors and that the bus is not occupied before setting off.

Maintainance
The minibus is well-maintained, but before any journey is commenced, drivers should check the following;
Tyre pressure and condition
Coolant levels
Battery electrolyte level
Footbrake and handbrake
Windscreen wipers, washers and horn
All interior an exterior lights
Engine oil level
Brake fluid level
Fuel level

If any of the above requires attention, or other defects are discovered in use, the Warden should be informed immediately
The minibus is covered by AA membership, details and contact number are in the bus. The Warden must be informed immediately if the AA have been contacted. In the event of any accident/incident involving the bus the Warden should be informed and an accident report form completed and submitted to the Education offices. All drivers who have not previously driven a Ford Convoy LDV should familiarise themselves with the operational manual before taking the vehicle on the road.

Diary
The driver is responsible for completion of the daily diary of journeys undertaken. Further instructions can be found on the inside cover of the diary (kept in the minibus)

General
The Warden is responsible for the operation of the minibus and any queries should be made to him in the first instance. If necessary he will seek advice from the Education Office

Feedback And Evaluation

All schools using the Camp are requested to complete and return an evaluation sheet.Information gathered from these sheets may be checked out with the school concerned in order to clarify concerns or issues, however no school names will be used in any subsequent report, verbal or otherwise, without the school concerned giving consent.