1. As per the “Child Care and Early Years Act,” campers must be at least four years of age to attend camp. Campers must have already had their fourth birthday in order to attend camp. Four-year-old campers will be required to upload proof of age within seven days of completing registration. Failure to do so may result in cancellation of registration.
2. Campers will be eligible to register for Junior, Senior and Tween Camps based on their school age, meaning campers must turn the eligible age by the end of the calendar year (December 31). Eligibility in our online system is done by birth year to allow campers to be with their school grade peers, so it will display the options based on the age the camper will be at the end of the calendar year. If you wish your camper to be with their age peers rather than grade peers because their birthday is after the summer, please call our camp office so we can provide details on how to register. Please note that campers need to be the minimum age of the group by the end of the calendar year; we do not allow campers to join older age groups.
3. Siblings: We try to encourage campers to stay with their age groups so that they can enjoy age-appropriate activities with new friends. If a camper is having difficulty being separated from their sibling, we can arrange for the older sibling to have a quick visit with the younger sibling’s group.

Please call us if we can assist with age requirements or choices.

The maximum number of campers depends on the age group, as follows:

• Mini camps with ages 4–5 years have a staff: camper ratio of 1:5 with a maximum of 10 campers per group.
• Junior camps with ages 6–7 years have a staff: camper ratio of 1:6 with a maximum of 12 campers per group.
• Senior camps with ages 8–10 years have a staff: camper ratio of 1:8 with a maximum of 16 campers per group.
• Tween camps with ages 10–12 years have a staff: camper ratio of 1:8 with a maximum of 16 campers per group.
• Leadership camps with ages 13–16 years have a staff: camper ratio of 1:10 with a maximum of 20 campers per group.

• Camp hours are weekdays from 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. (excluding statutory holidays—see camp dates for details)
• Regular camp drop-off is from 8:30–9:00 a.m. and pick-up is from 4:00–4:30 p.m.
• Before Care is from 8:00–8:30 a.m. (drop-off between 8:00–8:15 a.m.). Please check our Before Care section for more details.
• After Care is available from 4:30–6:00 p.m. Please check our After Care section for more details.

Bus transportation is available. Please check our Transportation section for more details.

PLEASE NOTE

• A late charge of $25 per camper will be charged if you arrive for pick-up after 4:30 p.m, unless your camper is registered for After Care.
• A late charge of $25 per camper will be charged if you arrive after 6:00 p.m. for a camper in After Care.

Payment in full is required at the time of registration.

You may pay by Visa, MasterCard or eCheck (also known as electronic funds transfer, similar to e-transfer).

Credit card payments are subject to a 2.4% processing fee, which will be added at checkout. Please note that if you decide to cancel your registration, and you are eligible for a refund, the 2.4% processing fee is non-refundable.

There is no processing fee for eCheck payments.

If you are paying by eCheck, you will be required to provide the following at checkout:

• Bank account holder’s full name
• The bank account number and transit number
• The institution (bank) number
• Select the type of account (chequing or savings)

These details can be found in your online bank account (look for the option to set-up direct deposits or pre-authorized payments), or obtained from your local bank branch.

eChecks will take 3–5 business days to process and be withdrawn from your account. Your registration is only confirmed once fees have been received. Should an eCheck transaction be declined, a $30 fee will be charged and your registration may be cancelled if fees are not received in a timely manner. For more information about eChecks, please visit this link.

All cancellations must be made in writing to the Branksome Hall Day Camps office, by email to camps@branksome.on.ca

Cancellations Prior to March 31: A full refund will be issued for cancellations of up to two weeks per camper. If you are cancelling more than two weeks per camper (e.g. three or more weeks), a $50.00 administrative charge for each additional week cancelled will be applied.

Cancellations from April 1 to May 31: Cancellations received between April 1 and May 31 will receive a full refund minus an administration fee of $100.00 per week, per camper.

Cancellations on or after June 1: No refund is available for cancellations on or after June 1, unless the cancellation is related to medical reasons for that camper and accompanied by a doctor’s note, at which point a partial refund of up to 50% may be granted, at the discretion of the Camp Director. Please reach out to our Camp Office about the information required in a doctor’s note supporting a refund request. These partial medical refunds are only available for campers who must miss three or more consecutive days of camp. If the full week must be missed due to a medical reason, you can choose to transfer your camper’s registration to a future week during the SAME summer, pending availability. A $50.00 transfer fee will apply. No refund is available for full or partial day absences due to inclement weather or any camp activities not fully utilized.

Before and After Care Cancellations: The fee for Before and/or After Care only will be fully refunded if cancelled by the Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. in the week prior to the Before and/or After Care in question. This only applies to Before and/or After Care fees, and the camp registration must be maintained. No refund will be provided for Before and/or After Care cancellations received after Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. of the week before the Before and/or After Care in question, or for any days of Before and/or After Care not fully utilized.

Transportation Cancellations: A full refund will be provided for transportation cancellations up to March 31. After March 31, no refund will be issued as transportation decisions are made based on the number of campers registered for the bus. If you transfer your registration to a different week, transportation is dependent on availability and not guaranteed. If transportation is not available in the week to which you transfer, no refund will be provided but you can transfer to After Care (a $25 transfer fee will apply).

Transfers: We will make our best effort to accommodate transfers between camps throughout the course of the summer, space permitting. If you wish to transfer camp programs and/or camp weeks, please email or call the Camp Office for assistance. Please note a transfer fee of $25.00 per camp session will be applied to the account if the transfer is made between April 1 and May 31. If the transfer is requested on or after June 1, a $50.00 transfer fee will apply.

Please note that should you cancel a session and you are eligible for a refund, the 2.4% processing fee for credit card payments is not refundable at any time for any reason.

In the event that Branksome Hall is required to cancel a camp program, you will be notified by email and provided a full refund of all fees paid for that week.

Campers will have two lessons per day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) by a certified Lifesaving Society Swim Instructor. The remainder of the day will be comprised of camp-style games and activities, and outdoor play.

Due to high demand, campers may only register for ONE Swim Camp session of lessons (two weeks), plus a non-lesson camp such as Aqua All-Stars (one week) or Aquatic Sport (two weeks), per summer. Registrations for multiple swim lesson sessions will be cancelled, and cancellation fees may apply. If, after May 1, 2026, there is availability in swim camp sessions, campers may register for an additional session.

For safety reasons, it is very important that you select the correct level based on your child’s swim skills. Swim Camp is designed on group lessons, and therefore we are not able to offer one-to-one support for campers who don’t have the prerequisite swim skills for the level in which they are registered. Since it’s not possible to make a switch once camp begins, all campers registered for Swim Camp will be required to upload their latest swim progress report or attend an in-water assessment at Branksome before March 3rd. Your swim camp registration may be cancelled if we don’t receive a recent progress report or the results of a swim assessment by this date. While we will do our best to accommodate switches into other levels if needed, this is not a guarantee as switches are based on availability, so it is best to know your swimmer’s level prior to registration. For further details, please visit our Swim Camp page or email our Camps team for assistance.

All lost and found items are kept in our lost and found bins located on the lower level of the Athletics and Wellness Centre. Campers are welcome to visit any time, with staff supervision, to see if we have their lost item(s). Parents are welcome to contact the front desk or the staff of their camper’s group to report/inquire about an item at any time. Please note, any items left at camp at the end of the summer will be kept until August 30 and any items left beyond that date will be donated to charity.

We encourage you to label EVERY ITEM you send to camp. If you take the time to label it, we will take the time to return it to your camper or contact you for pick up.

While we all hope for warm, sun-filled days, when the weather isn’t ideal for outside activities, our camps will also have use of Branksome Hall’s three gymnasiums, Performing Arts Room, and classroom spaces. This also includes heat advisory days where we may limit or alternate outdoor activities in the best interests of health and safety.

A camper code of conduct is included in our parent information package for you to review with your camper before coming to camp. Camp guidelines and policies are explained to campers on the first day of each week, in age appropriate terms. If there is a conflict at camp, our staff are trained to work with campers to resolve the situation fairly. While we do understand that campers are young and make mistakes, we cannot tolerate bullying, violent behavior, inappropriate language or any behavior by a camper that would endanger themselves, another camper, a staff member or the group as a whole. We will partner with parents to support learning and growth as much as possible, and it’s important to understand that we must follow our policies in order to ensure that everyone has a safe and enjoyable camp experience. We will communicate with parents as necessary about inappropriate behaviour, actions taken and a plan to move forward. In serious circumstances, when a camper’s behavior is repeatedly putting themselves or other campers at risk, the camper may be asked to leave and may not be allowed to return to camp.

All parents will receive a Parent Information Package by email in the spring. This package will include all of the important information you need to know before the first day of camp. Should you have any further questions, you can always contact us at the Camp Office by email, camps@branksome.on.ca or by phone at (416) 935-4128.

If your camper is not feeling well, please keep them at home and advise our Camp Office.

In order to ensure a safe and healthy camp community, Branksome Camps requires all campers and staff to adhere to any public health protocols as they may be at the time of camp attendance. We reserve the right to change illness policies at any time, should it be warranted and/or recommended. Cancellations due to illness MAY receive a refund, at the discretion of our Camp Director, and as outlined in our Cancellation/Refund Policy.

We have a designated Health Centre at camp, staffed by an RN, where a camper can rest and/or receive medical treatment. Our goal is to integrate campers back into their group as much as possible; the Camp Nurse or Camp Director, however, may feel it’s in the best interests of the camper or their group to go home. In the case of more serious injuries or illness, we will contact emergency medical services, if required, and parents or caregivers will be notified immediately. Each camp leader is equipped with a walkie-talkie that connects them to the main office, the Camp Nurse, as well as other camp leaders. All camp leaders are trained in First Aid and carry a First-Aid kit with basic supplies, as well as medical information on each camper in their group.

Staff are truly the key to a great camp experience! We carefully select top candidates for the interview process after reviewing their extensive application form. We look for staff with previous camp experience, as well as experience supervising or teaching children and the ability to connect with a variety of ages and backgrounds, skills that contribute to our camp programs, as well as camp characteristics such as creativity, enthusiasm, leadership, flexibility, well-being and a genuine desire to support camper learning and growth, to name just a few! All staff are required to have their Standard First Aid certification and we complete reference checks as well as a Criminal Record Check on all camp staff.

All staff must attend multi-day mandatory staff training held at our facility that is site-specific, reviewing best practices, risk assessment, emergency protocols, behaviour management etc. Our training is revisited during weekly meetings where staff discuss any immediate concerns and how we can improve and prepare for the upcoming weeks.

This is a difficult question to answer. In order to be offered a spot off the waiting list, we need to have a cancellation from that week, camp option and age group. Therefore, the chances depend on the cancellations received, which are not known or predictable. They also depend on whether people ahead of you on the waiting list decline the spot, as they may have already gone ahead with other plans. We have had campers who are number one on the waiting list and have not received a spot because there was no cancellation, and others who have been #10 or lower on the list receive a spot because those ahead of them decline the spot offered.

The best chance of being offered a spot off a waiting list is before or very soon after March 31, as parents can receive a full refund for cancellations prior to this date. The closer we get to camp, the more cancellations diminish, but they definitely do still occur.

Please only put your camper on waiting lists that you are prepared to accept, and notify us if you are no longer able to accept the spot, so we can remove your camper from that list. It will greatly help with managing the lists and making sure those campers who do want the spots are given the opportunity.
We appreciate you refraining from asking where your camper is on the list, or what their chances might be, as our answer will be the same as above and this takes time away from our staff offering those spots to campers. Rest assured we will contact you if a spot becomes available for your waitlisted camper. We usually send an email, and allow a 24-hour response time. Please note that once June rolls around, the time that our office team can devote to filling waitlist spots is limited. For this reason, if a spot becomes available within two weeks of the start date of camp, we will send an email to everyone on the waiting list and provide a 24-hour response window. We will allocate the spot, in waitlist order, from the responses received during that 24-hour period. This will allow a better chance of filling the spot considering the short time before the camp start date.