Our day and residential camps run for two weeks during the Easter holidays and six weeks in the summer. What do we do during the other forty-four weeks of the year? It’s something we are often asked. As great as it would be to turn up on the first day of camp to a staff team and a camp full of children, there’s a lot of behind the scenes work that goes on from the day after our camps finish for the year in August...
"Once I have recovered from the summer, the first priority is to prepare for the next cycle of staff recruitment, from application to job offers after interviews. This autumn we have spent some time updating the online form and developing our group interview. Throughout the year I will be continuously reading the latest regulatory guidance and updates from OFSTED and other authorities, which are then incorporated into our Policies and Procedures. Nearer to the start of camps, I will review and implement an up-to-date staff training programme for all our camps. I also oversee our external training requirements ranging from paediatric first aid to safeguarding courses. In between this all, I will take some time to improve and develop particular areas of expertise such as our English teaching provision."
"One of my main roles is dealing with families who want to hear more about XUK. Whether over the phone, on e-mail or Skype – I try to be available to help in all cases – from initial enquiry, through the booking stage, subsequently collating all the required information to ensure we can look after the children and supporting parents during camp time.
I also look after the finance side of the business, as well as looking for opportunities to develop and grow the business and even get involved with some of the marketing of XUK (including designing our brochure and arranging overseas trips to meet families)."
"Most of the year, my focus is ensuring the camps are high quality and run as smoothly and safely as possible.
We hire over 200 people each year and interview many more than this. Interviews, contracts, references & DBS checks take up a lot of my time!
I oversee the majority of the operational side of XUK ensuring we are providing high quality childcare for the kids joining our various sites each year. This is wide-ranging and includes ensuring we are suitably prepared for camp in a wide range of areas, including but not limited to policies, contracts, logistics, equipment, entertainment, compliance with regulation.
I am also in charge of the IT department – a role I have not managed to hand over to any of my colleagues despite 20 years of trying!"
"My role is split into two – Marketing and Logistics. I spend a lot of time online - using social media to promote our camps to parents, advertising our job vacancies and interacting with campers through Instagram. I write weekly blogs (just like this one) and liaise with our XUK Representatives (Alumni & Staff) throughout the year, helping them to promote our camps around the world.
I also complete a wide range of tasks throughout the year to help with our logistics from updating Duty Timetables at our residential camps, creating sample timetables for our day camp leaders to work off and writing guides such as how to allocate each camper into a dormitory for our seasonal Logistics Managers at each camp."
"My job ranges throughout the year and I do a bit of everything! I mostly deal with the administration side, talking to all of our new and old parents about our camps whilst also spreading the word about XUK online through listings and everything we have to offer. As we get closer to camp beginning, I prepare all of the documents needed for training, guides for managers and ensure the appropriate documents get to the right people to fulfil their roles."