Camps

Attendance is taken each day as children arrive and leave. A parent or guardian is required to sign in each child at the designated camp location between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Children must be picked up between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Please notify camp staff if you need to pick up your child earlier.

Please notify camp staff if your child will not be attending the program. If your child is absent or late and we have not been notified, staff will attempt to contact the parent or guardian. If you need to report a late drop-off, early pick-up or absent child, please email daycamps@clarington.net.

Please leave toys, electronic devices and valuables at home. Camp facilities and staff are not responsible for lost or stolen items.

All campers must wear a non-medical face mask at all times when indoors and outdoors during activities where campers cannot maintain a physical distance of two metres. 

A Clarington waste-free lunch contains no throwaway packaging. Food and drinks are packed in reusable containers within a reusable lunch bag or box. All containers are re-sealable so that leftover food and drink can be consumed (or composted) later at home. 

Due to COVID-19, parents must complete the Camper Information Form online before the first day of camp. Please note, business hours for receiving forms are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If you submit a form the weekend before camp starts, we will not receive it in time.

If you fail to complete the form before the first day of camp, your child cannot attend camp the first day. They can begin camp the next day after we receive the completed form.

Camper’s Rights and Responsibilities:

• To learn and play in a safe environment
• To be free of physical and verbal harassment
• To take part in all activities in the program
• To respect the rights of others, peers and staff alike

Due to concerns associated with the potential transmission of COVID-19, we ask that parents remind their children of the importance of physical distancing and being respectful of others’ safety. If a participant purposely puts the safety of another child or staff member at risk, parents will be contacted to pick up their child immediately. This behaviour may result in immediate discharge from the camp.

If your child(ren) requires an EpiPen, please indicate this on their Camper Information Form. Complete an Anaphylactic Allergies and EpiPen Administration Consent Form and bring it with you on the first day of camp.

Participants who may require EpiPens are responsible for ensuring that they have their EpiPens while attending camp. The participants must carry their EpiPen in an easily identifiable waist pack. 

1. Parents must notify camp staff by completing and handing in the Medication Consent Form.
2. Only send the correct dose needed for each day.
3. All medications must be in their original bottle with the child’s name and dosage indicated.
4. Campers must self-administer their medication with staff supervision.

Given that there are active cases of COVID-19 in Durham Region, there is a risk that both symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission may occur. While measures to attempt to control these risks have been implemented in our day camp environment, it is essential that parents and guardians are made aware of and understand these risks.

When children from multiple families attend a day camp, there is an increased risk of being exposed to the COVID-19 virus. Children infected with the COVID-19 are more likely than adults to have a mild infection or to have no symptoms at all. Nevertheless, children can transmit the virus to other children and adults at camp. Children are also able to bring home an infection acquired at camp and put family members at risk.

All our day camps have a screening process to help detect infections when there are symptoms present. However, this screening process cannot detect infected children or adults who are asymptomatic at the time of screening.

The risk of severe COVID-19 infection increases with age, which older day camp staff should consider in terms of the risks to themselves, particularly when working in camps with children from multiple families.

This caution also applies to those persons of any age who have chronic medical conditions that may put them at increased risk for severe illness with COVID-19 infection.

Active screening is the process of proactively checking for symptoms (e.g. temperature checks), travel history and the contact with or care of a person who may have COVID-19.

A participant will not be allowed to attend camp if the child or household member fits the criteria below and will need to self-isolate. The decision on when to return to camp is made in consultation with the Durham Region Health Department.

• If you or your child(ren) have any symptoms such as fever or cough or difficulty breathing;
• If you or your child(ren) have travelled outside of Canada in the last 14 days ;
• If you or your child(ren) live with, provide care for or spent extensive time with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, suspected to have COVID-19 or who has a fever, cough or shortness of breath that started within 14 days of travel outside of Canada

Symptoms actively screened for COVID-19:

• Fever
• Cough
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Nasal congestion*
• Nasal discharge*
• Sneezing*
• Sore throat

*unless common due to allergies, etc. Any child or staff member who has any symptoms of illness or whose parent or other household members are showing any signs of illness as described above will be asked to stay home from the day camp and self-isolate. The decision on when to return to camp is made in consultation with the Durham Region Health Department.

All participants and staff members must practise physical distancing of two metres. Signs and visual markers will be used to emphasize and enforce campers, staff and parents or guardians to maintain a two-metre distance.

If maintaining a physical distancing of two metres is not possible (i.e. staff interventions for behaviour management and issuing first aid), staff will use personal protective equipment (PPE) as required.

Good hand hygiene and frequent hand washing will take place throughout the day. Facilities offering multiple camps will not allow camp cohorts to intermingle. Each camp will have its own designated space, entrance and exit. If sharing common spaces (i.e. gymnasium), the area will be cleaned and disinfected before and after each use.

The Durham Region Health Department will be contacted, and staff will follow the protocols for when there is a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case in the facility.

Please refer to Durham Region Health Department to stay up to date on the latest information on COVID-19. 

Evaluate your health and that of your child regularly. If either of you is sick, stay home. If either of you has a temperature (37.8 degrees Celsius or higher), stay home. If someone at home is sick, or you’ve come into contact with someone who became sick, stay home and keep your child home too.

Talk to your child(ren) about COVID-19 and the changes in the routine they will find at camp. Let them know that camp groups will be smaller and they need to keep apart from staff and other children and need to wash their hands frequently.

Talk to children about the sign-in process, personal protective equipment and the possibility of being separated from the group with a staff member if they become ill.

There will be no swimming, skating, outings, cooking, baking or special guests at camp.

Children will be provided with their own supplies for use over the week, for example, markers, scissors, glue, etc. These items will be disinfected by a staff member at the end of each day.