Let’s talk about SUMMER!
On this rather chilly and snowy first day of Spring, we are thinking about Summer and all of the opportunities to try something new in our downtime. Summer day camps are the perfect way to keep your child active and experiencing new things in a relaxed environment intentionally designed to develop passions, interests and social-emotional experiences.
At Star Academy, our school year runs eleven months, with three weeks of that being in July. In addition to our school programme, we began a ‘Summer Camp’ open to the public in 2022. We were looking to meet the needs of families in our community that might not be interested in private education but were interested in a structured camp programme that follows our Five Pillars of Child Development. Our weekly themes integrate academic, physical, emotional, social and global learning pillars into the experiences our campers have.
Summer camps overall are good for children for many reasons, a few of our favourite reasons to send our children to camp:
- Activities: Day camps offer a wide range of activities that are well-paced to expose children to sports, arts and crafts, outdoor activities and learning experiences.
- Age groups: Multi-aged groupings have many benefits as older and younger children are mixed for some activities, and separated for others. The mentorship and leadership opportunities are immense for the older students, while the younger children benefit from peer role models.
- Safety: This is a top priority, and camp staff (at Star) have vulnerable sector police checks, trained first-aid, and policies in place for communication with parents when incidents occur.
- Themes and special days: Star camp is arranged around weekly themes to add excitement and fun to the planning. Special dress-up days and activities add to the enthusiasm and excitement of the children.
- Learning opportunities: Teachers will often say it is the ‘a-ha’ moments that drive them, and camp is no different when you watch a child try something new and get excited. Learning is built into daily activities with inquiry experiences indoors and on our two acres of green space in the middle of Mississauga!
Overall, summer camp is an experience for children to grow and explore in different peer groups, settings, and growth opportunities. Lasting memories are made from summer camp, we are excited to have a role in helping children develop those memories this year!