A 5 day residential and trauma-informed camp for care-experienced children ages 6-12 . Our camps help reinforce family roles and deliver new experiences to children in care.
The Starfish Alliance provides opportunities for children to build confidence, to feel valued and to create life affirming memories that will support their wellbeing and self-worth later in life. I have no doubt that their work will have a real impact on the lives of care experienced children.
Activity
With our help and training, churches will choose a local venue for their camp, gather funds and volunteers, and run the camp for the children in their communities.
Time
Once a leadership team of two or three has been identified and attends our Directors' Training, it will take at least 9 to 12 months to launch your Starfish KIDS Camp. Once launched, your camp can run each year (subject to programme compliance).
Cost
Costs will vary depending on how many children you serve. On average, Starfish KIDS Camps have 30-40 campers and 50-70 volunteers. £20,000-30,000 is a good projection for your camp budget. But don't let this daunt you! We have also seen that this is an "easy ask" for people and businesses in your community to support!
Partnership
Other churches will often want to be a part of Starfish KIDS Camps, as some will have more volunteers than money, or vice versa. As you progress with your camp, your interaction with the Local Authority will increase.
Support
The Starfish Alliance provides training for your directors' team, as well as all materials and formats for training your volunteers. Our camps will receive regular onboarding support from our team. We provide an updated curriculum for camps each year, as well as detailed documents with songs, activities, schedules, and more.
Resources
You will need access to a residential venue to host your camp. This can be an outdoor adventure centre, college or residential school, or conference centre. We will help you source this if needed.
People
A directors' team of 2 to 3 people (who are active in your church) will lead the effort. 50 to 70 others, ages 18+, will need to pass all safeguarding requirements (DBS check, etc.). Key roles: director, assistant director, activities director, lifeguard, nurse, child specialist, BIGS (these are the adults with most supervisory responsibilities for campers).
Replications
The Starfish Alliance has:
Replications
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