what to do during the summer holidays? Summer play schemes?

[jessie2004]

I have to find some summer schemes for my 5 year old son for 2-4 weeks. Anyone has experience about the summer playschemes:

1. local authority play scheme: 75.50 pound/week
2. supercamps: 149 pounds/week
3. camp beaumont: 213 pounds/week

I have called them and it seems that camp beaumont has more activities , eg, swimming, go-carts etc compared with the others. Supercamps has the best location for me. Anyone tried any of these before and how are their staffs?

As this is the first time for my boy to go to the summer camp, I would like to forget about the money issues and just choose the one most suitable for him.

Any suggestions are highly appreciated.

cannot recommend supercamps enough. Perfect for a 5 year old little boy. Staff are young, enthusiastic, cool and energetic. Plenty of activities for a 5 year old, The only thing i would say is that if you have a choice as to your work pattern, always make sure he goes on a Monday-this is when that weeks friends are made, and try to prepare him for the fact that the same children are not there every day/week,

I used to use the local council schemes, which were cheap and full of their friends, but then we switched to the Sports Centre club which had swimming & ball pit every day + proper sports activities as well as crafts etc - cost more but better as they were older.

DD is hoping to get a job with council clubs this year to help with next years Uni Bills! (They pay their staff very well to get decent people)

the local authority have cancelled all the summer playschemes in my area - they said they couldn't afford to run them anymore

so whatever you do check they are still running before you rely on them

Use Supercamps - I think the activities depend on the facilities available at the school so for us there is a pool and they swim most days which they love. I have found them good from a camp and staff perspective and average to poor from the admin side. I only use them 1 day a week - two at most - I think they are quite full on and I think they would be pretty exhausted if it was for the full week - have you considered using more than one type - Supercamps and the similar options can be booked by the day. Our local Sports centre does day activities too. Also have you considered a summer Nanny - there are a number of teachers and teaching assistants who do this during the summer holidays certainly find that around us - another mix and match option perhaps - there may also be others locally who would share with you if you looked at this option

I use supercamps.
Good staff at the location I used and very very active schedule. Crafts and drama as well as sports and swimming. DD spent so long on the bouncy castle they missed the treasure hunt. Groups were small too. 1 adult to 8 children.

The activities depend on the location and some items are only available some weeks.
There is also Camp England and locally in SE there is Holiday Sports. Holiday Sports is very good but more sports than crafts... but I found Camp England to be disorganised and they don't take childcare vouchers either as they are not yet Ofsted registered.

DD was exhausted when I picked her up each day and she loved it!

The best thing was her friend went so we asked for them to be in the same group.

We're sending DD to Camp Beaumont for 2 weeks to cover time we can't get off work - they do offer discounts for booking more than 1 week and ours ended up at c.£150 a week.

Other camps we looked at didn't take children til they were 5 and all the local schemes' hours are unworkable for our situation (10-4), so it was really our only option. The grandparents are already doing 2 weeks for us (9 weeks summer holiday at her friggin' school - waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!)

Good to know about Supercamps for next year, though

We used Barracudas last year, and have just booked again for this summer. DD absolutely loved it - good mixture of sports and arty/crafty things. Staff were good and she can't wait to go back. Cost about £135/week which included early and late club, so we could drop off from 8am and pickup until 6pm. Obviously we didn't leave her in there that long, but it made it easier to co-ordinate with work. There are also optional extra classes in things like tennis or swimming, which you can add on if you wish. Hoping for good weather, although it was hit and miss last year but DD didn't care because she was having so much fun.

I called barracudas and they gave me the discount price 165 pounds, that is quite good. It is a pity that supercamp in my area does not have swimming pools. Maybe 2 weeks at each place

I recommend Barracudas, havent used Camp Beaumont or Supercamps. DD went for the first time at easter; really impressed with energy and enthusiasm of the staff. DD liked the go karts and quad bikes and wall climbing best. She made some good friends very quickly and didnt know anyone else when she started. Tip for future, if you try or think about trying Barracudas for the future, they do offer great discount deals- buy one week, get one week free - if you book early enough. This years programme and prices were available from November. For the total 6 weeks that i booked, cost me an average of £112 for each week.

I've used Fit For Sport for the first time at Easter - my DD loved it. They had extended day (8.30 to 5.30)

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They do vary an awful lot.

I work at a drama based summer holiday activity and in the same building is a small holiday club. They do seem to sit around and watch TV and play on dance mats an awful lot. There are 5 year olds in with 10 year olds and I don;t think I would be happy with my dc there for the whole holidays.

My dd went to Kings Camp (sports)for the last two years, not becasue we needed childcare (dh is a teacher) but because her schoolfriends were going) and it was very good. They were split into age appropriate groups.

Activities for children that run in the school holidays.