Dear Ranch Families!
As a team we met to discuss how the Roadmap to Reopening will impact Circle Square Ranch. As we are entering Step 1 on Friday June 11th, we anticipate being able to operate day camps for the whole summer. We anticipate being able to have overnight camps commencing on July 11th, however the final decision about overnight camps depends on when Ontario moves into Step 2. We’ll make a decision regarding Week 2 overnight camps by July 2nd. We hope that once Ontario moves into Step 2, we’ll be allowed to run overnight camps for the remainder of the summer, and we are prepared to monitor any government announcements that may result in changes and communicate with you in a timely manner.
If your child is registered for camp, or you are hoping to send your child to camp this summer, please read over our Day Camp COVID Policies and Overnight COVID Policies. They are fairly lengthy documents, but we feel it’s important that you understand what camp will likely look like this summer. Our policies and procedures are based on Ministry of Health DRAFT documents, and we can’t create our final policies until we receive a final document from the Ministry of Health.
If your child is not yet registered for camp but you are hoping to send them, you are welcome to add them to the waiting list for camp this summer in case any additional spots are added for the summer. You can do that here.
If you are currently registered for camp and are unable to wait until July 2nd for a decision regarding the operation of our overnight camps, or if for some reason you are not comfortable with having your children follow these policies and procedures while they are at camp, you are able to withdraw your registration until June 20, 2021 with a cancellation fee of $20.00. Normal cancellation fees will apply for cancellations after June 21, 2021.
Lastly, we had previously sent out an email notifying families that we were postponing processing final payments. We have a tentative new schedule for final payments to be processed:
- Day Campers & LITs attending camps week 1 will have their final payments processed on Wednesday, June 23rd.
- If Ontario moves into step 2, final payments for all other camps will be processed on Tuesday, July 6th.
We will send out a reminder email a few days in advance prior to processing the payment. If we do not currently have a final payment set up for you, we will notify you closer to the due date.
THANK YOU for your flexibility and understanding. Please let us know if you have any questions. We can’t wait to see you this summer,
Steve & Andrea Richardson
Camp Directors[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Dear Ranch Families!
What a week it’s been! We started with an emergency brake shutdown and now we’ve got stay at home orders. It’s got us wondering about the summer, so we thought we’d let you know what we’re thinking.
We remain hopeful that we will be able offer summer camp in 2021. While we do not yet know exactly what that will look like, Circle Square Ranch is committed to doing everything we can to ensure camp is a safe, fun-filled, and wonderful place for campers to return to this year. Be assured that safety is our top priority, as it always is when it comes to caring for campers. We will be following all precautions and guidelines that government and health authorities set for us. As you know, these guidelines evolve daily and so we ask for your patience as we respond as efficiently as possible.
We are fairly optimistic that we will be able to operate day camps this summer, however we are waiting for an official government decision. Overnight camps have not been permitted since March 2020, and the government hasn’t made an announcement about whether overnight camps will be permitted to open for summer 2021. We were hoping for a decision by May 1st, but with the new stay at home orders we are doubtful that a decision will be made by then. We will be sure to communicate with you as soon as we have any details. If we are not able to offer overnight camp and are still able to offer day camps, our current plan is to offer the following for any registered overnight campers:
- Parents will have the option to receive a full refund if desired.
- Overnight campers will have the option to attend their scheduled week as day campers (at a reduced rate). These camp days would be offered Monday to Friday during your regularly scheduled week.
- If allowed under guidelines, a limited number of families could stay in a camp cabin and have children attend day camp during the day (additional costs will apply). There are very limited accommodations available, interested families will be offered space based on registration date and distance from camp.
- We’re flexible and we’re open to any suggestions you may have to make camp work for your family. We’re considering ideas like allowing these campers to come for a reduced number of days and flexible drop off and pick up times.
We are able to be nimble and make change quickly (on a week by week basis) if needed. We will gather some information from overnight campers in May regarding your preferences so we can respond quickly to any last-minute changes.
We are setting up spaces and planning programs in a way that allows campers to experience the community, activities, and joy of camp. It is so important for campers to experience the freedom being at camp offers them.
We have reduced our camper capacity in order to meet the anticipated social distancing guidelines, however it is possible that we may be required to reduce our capacity even further. If so, priority will be given to campers based on registration dates.
If you have any questions about registering your child for camp this summer, please do not hesitate to give us a call at 519.754.0171. We want to ensure that you are as comfortable sending your child to camp as we are in welcoming them.
Steve & Andrea Richardson
Camp Directors
