Things You Need To Know
- Camp is going to be great this Summer! We can’t wait to welcome your camper to Wenonah.
- We’ve got it! We’ve figured out our programs, activities, food service, health care, and how to have a lot of fun at Camp in 2021.
- To help us keep COVID-19 out of Camp, campers and staff are required to have a negative COVID-19 PCR test and limit their exposure to others prior to their Camp Period.
- Cohorts are the centrepiece of our approach at Camp this Summer.
- Families are encouraged to drop off their campers at Camp on the first day of their Camp Period, and have them return home on the Camp bus if possible.
- If your camper needs to leave Camp for COVID-19 reasons, we require families to arrange to pick up their camper that same day. Please make sure your main contact can be reached at any time.
As we count down the days to the first day of Summer Camp, we can feel the anticipation of all our campers to be at Camp, playing with a group of friends, and spending time with their cabinmates without masks on! Summer Camp is a bridge to the return to normal.
Those returning to Wenonah this Summer are coming back to a very familiar experience. Our mission remains the same, the feeling of Camp remains the same, and overall, the experience remains the same one we have carefully developed over the past 25 years. Our staff team continues to be hard at work planning to welcome your camper to Wenonah for this very special season at Camp.
The way we do some things will be different this year to meet Ontario’s overnight camp guidelines (that we have now received) and to manage the risks of COVID-19. With every person on site having been tested prior to arrival at Camp, the centrepiece to our approach is the cohort. Each group (for example, a cabin or a couple of tabin groups) is a ‘household’. When people are in their ‘household’ group, they are maskless and their time together will be very normal. For one-month ROOTS, POLARIS and WCITs, we hope to expand the size of the cohort in the second half of the month.
What can we look forward to at Camp?
- Your favourite Wenonah programs are running this Summer! We are already planning for another great season of Wenonah Games, campfires, cabin-based programs, evening programs, and so much more.
- All of our main activity areas are offered this year, including sailing, canoeing, swimming, kayaking, archery, climbing, mini golf, arts and crafts, stand-up paddle boarding, tennis, and some new surprises!
- As always, one-month and two-week cabin groups have optional overnight canoe trips on our back lakes. We also plan to run the POLARIS canoe trips to Algonquin Park as usual.
- The ROOTS program gives campers opportunities to enjoy those same activities and programs that interest them.
- The POLARIS program highlights are exactly the same. The canoe trips, certification in swimming, canoeing, and sailing, and so much more will be part of the POLARIS experience, as they always have been.
- WCITs are developing the same great leadership skills. They can expect to participate in internships, provide leadership at Camp, and experience tremendous personal growth.
Getting Ready for Camp
- Final Forms & Details are being sent to July Camp families on Monday, June 7 (to be returned by Friday, June 18), and to August Camp families by June 30. Specifics about many of these details will be included in our Family Handbook. You can expect to receive various forms (including medical forms, cabinmate requests, transportation forms, and more) to compete at this time as well.
- We encourage all eligible campers and staff to become immunized against COVID-19 as soon as possible. Please visit @camp.vax on Instagram for daily updates.
- In the 14 days leading up to their first day of Camp, we ask that campers and staff take reasonable measures to limit their exposure to COVID-19 (i.e., reduce the chances of becoming infected by limiting contact with others outside of your immediate household).
- Camper families and staff will submit proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within three days prior to their arrival at Camp.
- Campers and staff can get these tests from pharmacies that offer PCR testing.
- For campers and staff going to a summer camp in Ontario, these tests are free.
- If any camper has previously tested positive for COVID-19, please let Director of Health & Wellness Nancy Vandenbergh know (nancy@campwenonah.com) as soon as possible to determine if testing is needed.
- Please send your camper to Camp with several non-medical masks that they can wear in larger group settings beyond their cohort, based on the guidelines in Public Health Ontario’s Preventing COVID-19: Tips for children attending school. Our Packing List will include more details on masks.
- If your camper is unable to tolerate mask wearing, please contact the Camp office to arrange an accommodation.
- On the first day of Camp, you will screen your camper(s) before arrival using a screening tool that we will send you.
Getting to Camp
- We are encouraging families to drive to Camp on the first day rather than using the bus this year to minimize contact with others outside their cohort before arriving at Camp. The bus, however, will be available at the start of Period 1/1A, Period 2, Period 3/3A, and Period 4/4A for those who need it.
- If you are driving to Camp, please minimize stops along the way.
- We will have a staggered start for those driving to Camp on arrival day, and your family will be assigned an arrival time the week before the first day of your Camp experience.
Keeping Our Community Safe at Camp
- Camp uses a range of strategies to manage the risks associated with COVID-19:
- Campers, ROOTS, POLARIS, and WCITs are organized into cohorts where campers and staff will have close contact with those who are in their cohort (for example, a cabin or a couple of tabin groups). Within the cohort group, campers can be maskless. Campers in different cohorts will do what we have all done over the last year, including physical distancing and wearing masks when they spend time with one another.
- Executive Chef Cody Rector is finalizing a terrific Summer Camp menu. Cafeteria-style service will be featured during meals at Camp this Summer.
- We will screen everyone in Camp for COVID-19 symptoms daily.
- Indoor spaces are ventilated, and we will spend time outside as much as possible. As always, hand hygiene and disinfection of commonly touched surfaces will be part of our protocols at Camp.
- We are unable to host a Visitor’s Day this Summer, and families are not able to visit with their one-month campers, ROOTS, POLARIS, or WCITs mid-month. Instead of a Visitor’s Day, we have a day of fun programs planned on site during the changeover between two-week Periods.
- Everyone at Camp may be tested for COVID-19, based on the discretion of our health care team or as directed by Simcoe Muskoka District Public Health.
- We may require an individual or group of people to leave Camp for COVID-19 reasons:
- Campers may become symptomatic and require testing that is outside the scope of what Wenonah can offer.
- Someone at Wenonah may test positive with whom an individual may have had close contact.
- A person with whom an individual has been in close contact with (for example, a cabinmate) may have a high risk exposure to COVID-19.
- Due to public health requirements (for example, staff requiring isolation) we could be unable to maintain suitable supervision of campers, ROOTS, POLARIS or WCITs.
- Other requirements as determined by Simcoe Muskoka District Public Health
- If your camper needs to leave Camp for COVID-19 reasons, we require families to arrange to pick them up that same day. We will ask for specific contact information for who to contact if this were to occur.
Coming Home from Camp
- Bus service is available at the end of Period 1/1B, Period Two, P3/3B, P4/4B to Vaughan Mills Mall. We encourage you to consider having your camper, ROOTS, POLARIS, and/or WCIT leave Camp on the bus to help us manage the number of vehicles on site on the last day of Camp. Because of the isolated nature of Camp, we are also comfortable that it is safe for everyone to leave Wenonah by bus.
- For those who do pick up their campers from Camp, we will share a pick-up schedule with you.
Since last year, we have looked forward to “coming home to Wenonah”. We can’t wait to see our Camp community back together again!!
Jeff Bradshaw (Founder & Executive Director)
Jennifer “JJ” Jupp (Senior Director – Experience)
Mike Stewart (Senior Director – Logistics)
Fraser “Tito” McOuat (Director of Operations)
Eoin “Woody” Wood (Director of Leadership)
Nancy Vandenbergh (Director of Health & Wellness)
Dr. Phyllis McCord (Camp Doctor)
Renata Bradshaw, Jane McCutcheon, and Tom Appleyard (Camp Consultants)