Daily Life at Camp

Your day to day life at Camp will vary depending on where you are placed and your role, but for a general idea of what to expect you can check out the Day in the Life at Camp page on our website.

As a Camp Counsellor, you'll wear many different hats, as a coach, mentor, leader and role model. When you are with your campers, you are responsible for their safety, supervision, and support. This is why counsellors need to be mature, dependable, and able to work well with children and other staff. 

In addition to your daily duties of running activities, planning and executing Camp events or general Camper care, the core responsibilities of a Camp Counsellors role are: 

• Camper Safety and Wellbeing: Whether you're leading or supervising activities, sitting with your campers at meals or spending time in the cabin, you need to remain attentive and respond quickly and appropriately to situations that arise.  
• Being a Positive Role Model: Children learn quickly from their role models so your attitude, behaviour and the way you treat others is incredibly important. Demonstrating kindness, respect and enthusiasm helps create a positive Camp environment and promote positive behaviour.
• Managing Behaviour and Providing Emotional Support: Children come to Camp to have fun, but there will occasionally be behavioural challenges. You may need to remind campers of Camp rules, encourage positive behaviour, help resolve conflict or support children who are homesick or dysregulated. 
• Child Safeguarding: It is also your responsibility to ensure the protection of the children in your care from abuse. This involves looking out for changes in behaviour and signs of abuse among your campers and reporting these according to the safeguarding procedures at your Camp. 

Every Camp will run activities in their own unique way, but the end goal will always be to provide campers with a great experience where they are learning new skills and having fun!

Activities are usually split into about 5 periods throughout the day, generally lasting 45–90 minutes. Campers tend to choose their electives (the activities they want to participate in) individually or as a cabin group at the start of a week or session. 

Campers will be taken from activity to activity during the day. You may travel with them to different areas and take part, stay in one activity area and teach different age groups throughout the day, or teach a range of activities across Camp - it depends on your role and the way schedules are structured at your Camp. 

During an activity period you will usually help set up the area, give campers instructions, complete a game, task or practice and support campers in clearing up equipment, leaving the activity area ready for the next group. For example, an archery session might begin with a runthrough of range safety, followed by instruction on the goals for the day, then target practice, and end with collecting and storing equipment.

Camps hire domestic staff from the US, many of whom were campers themselves, as well as staff from around the world. You could be working with people from just about anywhere, but most commonly the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, and other European or South American countries. 

Typically staff will be between 18–28 years old, but there will likely be some senior staff, nurses, Camp directors or maintenance staff who are older than this.

Yes, most Camps have a dress code, but not all Camps have a set uniform. Dress codes are usually practical rather than formal and common expectations include:

• Comfortable clothing: T-shirts, shorts and athletic wear that are comfortable and modest. 
• Closed-toe shoes: Required for personal safety (sandals or flip-flops may only be allowed at the pool, waterfront or in showers).
• One-piece swimsuits: Worn only at the pool or waterfront, bikinis are usually prohibited. 
• Camp-appropriate: Clothes should not have offensive or inappropriate language or imagery, such as graphics that promote drugs, alcohol, or violence.

At Camps that do require a uniform, this will usually consist of branded t-shirt’s or polo shirts provided by Camp and potentially a set colour for shorts and trousers. 

Food at Camps will vary but is primarily intended to be kid-friendly and scalable to feed large groups efficiently. This usually consists of cafeteria-style meals consisting of: 

• Breakfast: Toast, cereal, eggs, yogurt, fruit, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles etc. 
• Lunch/Dinner: Burgers, tacos, pizza, pasta, soup, salad, meat and veg etc. 
• Dessert: Cookies, pie, ice cream, cake etc. 

Most Camps will also have a salad bar to supplement the meal with a range of fruit, vegetables and salads.

Most Camps host meals in a large dining hall, where food is served either:

• Buffet-style: campers and staff go to a buffet to select the food they want
• Or family-style: food is placed on each table and served out to each person

Most Camps can accommodate common dietary requirements if they're communicated in advance, including:

• Vegetarian and vegan 
• Gluten-free 
• Dairy-free 
• Nut allergies
• Religious dietary requirements (such as kosher or halal, depending on the Camp)

This cannot be guaranteed at all Camps, so make sure to discuss your dietary requirements with Camps during the interview process.