Nursery World - Save our summer

Children and families will suffer if summer childcare providers are not supported and guided competently by the Government, says Richard Bernstein, director of XUK Camps

Richard Bernstein: 'We focused on whether we could run our day camps within the Government guidelines and still guarantee fun. It was something of a Kafkaesque process at times'

Sometimes a disaster can bring out the best in people. Despite uncertainty from the Government until the 11th hour as to whether summer camps would be allowed to run, XUK Camps offered 700 days of childcare this summer, employing 50 staff to ensure those children would have fun and a sense of the old normality with their peers.

And it was wonderful. The feedback we had from parents was extraordinary, but the skipping, smiling faces running up the path each day were all we needed to confirm we made the right choice.

Back in April we had to announce that our residential camps (which make up over 90 per cent of our business) would not run. From that moment on we focused on whether we could run our day camps within the Government guidelines and still guarantee fun; it was something of a Kafkaesque process at times.

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