Registration:
Registration for 2008 will open in late-January or early-February much like last year. Check back to the front page of our website for an exact date later this year.
Activities:
We have more than 30 land and water based activities to choose from.
We provide appropriate equipment and essential safety gear. *
All campers take a swim test on their first day. Our lifeguards will assign colour coded bracelets to each camper based on their swimming ability. Based on the outcome of this test some campers will be required to wear lifejackets on the waterfront docks at all times.
*We provide helmets for Mountain Bike riders, but we do not provide body armour, knee or elbow pads, they are welcome to bring their own. For skateboarding and mountainboarding helmets are required and we provide them. We have wristguards, elbow and knee pads available, however they are optional.
Accommodation:
Campers in our main Youth, Family & Mum n Me camps are housed in cabins. 2 leaders and 10-12 campers per cabin. Cabins are equipped with electricity and bathrooms with hot showers. Campers are required to keep their cabins clean and the bathrooms are sanitized daily by our staff. Our Adventure camps, both Mountain Biking and Wakeboarding, are housed in army style tents on permanent platforms in the forest a short distance from the main camp. Meals are eaten mainly at the main dining hall with the main youth camp, but some meals are taken out on their "adventure".
Food:
Our new kitchen and dining hall accommodates 400+ people per meal. Meals are prepared in our well stocked commercial kitchen and the food is generally served family style at the tables. In the summer campers are served their meals on our covered, open deck, surrounded by the Keats greenery that gives a true "camp" feel to dining.
Health & Safety:
Health and safety of our campers are at the top of our list. Each Youth Camp has a nurse in attendance, functioning from our "Sick Bay" building which is well stocked with emergency supplies and non-prescription medications. We also have at least one O.F.A. level 3 on duty at all times. St Mary's Hospital in Sechelt is a 30 minute trip away. All staff must provide us with a Criminal Record Check, lifeguards are certified with NLS, and staff spend 2 weeks before camps begin in training and preparation for the summer. Keats Camps is accredited with the BC Camping Association.
Waiting lists:
With an additional 60 spaces for campers, now that our new camper housing is in use, most of our wait lists have been greatly reduced or eliminated. If your camp is full when you try to register please add your name to the waitlist (no charge) as many camps have spots become available over the course of the spring. We try to place campers off the waitlist as quickly as possible as spots open up.
Cabin Mates:
One of our main questions we receive is regarding cabin mates. Friends are so important! We also have many campers who do not request a cabin mate so there are always new friends to meet at Keats. We try and make sure that each camper is housed with at least one of their cabin mate choices, although we can often manage to put small groups of friends together. We process the cabin assignments during the week before camp, any changes up to a week before camp must be made in writing or by e-mail. We cannot make changes easily once the assignments have been made.
Privacy:
We do not disclose any information from any registration form to any party other than the parent/guardian who completed the form, and the other parent/guardian who they name on the registration form. This includes cabin mate request information. We would, of course, release medical information to a health care provider if it became necessary while the camper is in our care.
Photos:
We do take a lot of photos at camp and by your child's attendance at camp you give us permission to use the photo for promotional purposes, on brochures, websites, flyers etc. We do not assign names with any photos produced. DVD's are available for pre-order for your camper and this past year we were able to include over 200 photos on each DVD produced.