*see the latest news in our April parent bulletins
Updated March 24, 2021
Enrollment Peaks
Enrollment is beginning to wrap up for Pathfinder 2021 sessions. A few spots remain!
So many families kept their enrollments active from 2020, and so many new families have come on board, that only a handful of spots remain for this summer’s camp roster. There is still time to grab a place for your camper while some are available, but you’ll want to reach out directly to Sladds by email asap.
As we did last season, your tuition is safe with Pathfinder and can be, at your discretion, refunded or credited ahead if Covid prevents your camper from attending.
Get in touch, mike@camppathfinder.com
Join Us On Zoom- February Pathfinder Zoom Meetings to be Repeated Throughout Spring
Attend one of Pathfinder’s Overview Zoom Briefings
Like our February zooms, spring zooms will be a bird’s eye view of Pathfinder 2021 health and safety planning, border questions, camper and staff roster updates, and much more.
Hosted by Sladds, these one-hour sessions are a fun overview of Pathfinder life, and a concise briefing on all that we’re doing to run camp responsibly with public health this season.
Request your link *(see the News web page to get the latest meeting dates)
Sunday March 21, 1:00 pm
new families / prospects – Learn all about Pathfinder fun & Covid plans
Tuesday March 23, 7:30 pm
Come one, come all! Get an overview of the Pathfinder health/safety plan.
*If you caught a February or March meeting, you have the latest for now.
Sunday March 28, 1:00 pm
Come one, come all! Pathfinder overview and this season's special plans.
*If you caught a February or March meeting, you have the latest for now.
US-Canada Border and Overnight Camps
At this writing, there are positive signs for Canada and the U.S. renewing their dialogue toward a phased reopening of the border. Meanwhile, Ontario’s overnight camps have received encouraging feedback on its Covid planning task force from provincial public health leaders.
What has to happen? First, Ontario overnight camps have to be placed back into the province’s Reopening Framework, so that they can operate whatever color code of pandemic response their region is in. Next, the Premier would reverse the camp closure order of May 2020.
For the border, Min. Immigration has indicated willingness to design an exemption to the travel ban for American campers. This will need more time, as the federal and provincial border and public health professionals slog through the obstacles of variants, vaccine rates and case spikes.
Overall, signs are very positive and despite cycling good and bad news headlines, camps are in a better position to open than at this time last year. Pathfinder is moving ahead with our advance plans, so we can operate safely and happily when the word is ‘Go!’
For more insights into the positive signs we’re seeing, contact Sladds for a 1:1 chat.
Read Back and Reach Out to Camp!
Please read back into our Parent Bulletins and Blog Posts for January and February. You’ll find good information on Pathfinder planning, and on why our kids need Pathfinder more than ever.
Provincial Camp Guidance Begins to Emerge for Summer ‘21
On March 1, the Ontario Camps Association released to member camp directors its draft guidance document on operating camps with Covid-19 protocols this summer.
While the OCA guidance draft remains confidential for now, its recommendations and other case studies from Maine are included in a Ontario Public Health study released March 2.
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/phm/2021/03/covid-19-environmental-scan-summer-camps.pdf?la=en
Now that March has arrived, we can restate the basics of Pathfinder’s Covid-adaptive plan.
Pathfinder’s draft guidance for health/wellness in 2021 has been underway since this time last year, when the pandemic first threatened the Summer of 2020. Much of what you can read, even in our summer ’20 parent news, reflected the smart guidance basics we’ll see in the OCA’s plans for camp this year.
The new draft guidance was authored by a task force from the OCA – Pathfinder included – with special expertise in day-, overnight-, outdoor education-, special needs-, and tripping programs.
The guidance draft was then reviewed by doctors at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto and received its endorsement. Next, the guidance draft travels to the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams. His staff will work on it with the OCA task force, and soon a Field Guide will be created to assist all camps with our plans to conduct a happy, safe summer for all.
All our general plans were previewed in February’s camp zoom meetings, and you can catch up on all the details first-hand from Sladds in his upcoming Zoom briefings (see News).
These are repeats in large measure of our earlier meetings, so if you attended one, you’re all set for now.
What Parents Can Do Now?
Get a leg up on preparing your camper for his Pathfinder time this upcoming summer.
Get familiar with the basic plan for 2021 Safety/Health/Program. We'll continue to update this all spring.
___________
As the season approaches, don’t hesitate to reach out and have a 1:1 update or conversation with Sladds to get your questions answered and requests addressed. Best is to get me on email and we’ll set up a call.
mike@camppathfinder.com
Noonway, all!
Sladds