[*loobylou*]

Hey,
Just wondered if anyone here has worked at camp beaumont? If anyone has what was it like and what camp did you work at? What experience would i need?
I'm considering either The House or The Island.

Thanks
Lucy

[belle_27]

My firend worked there this summer but at one that was close to her so she didn't stay there every night, she just had to work a few nights. From what she told me, pay-wise its very bad and generally its very disorganised and they were understaffed. She worked more hours than she got paid for like around 2 hours extra every day and in the end they underpaid her and she's still trying to sort that out.

They sacked people for really minor things, they basically blamed the staff for anything that went wrong. Its not hard to get a job with them. Basically the overall message I got was that you don't do it for the money and the first 2 weeks you'll probably hate it but socially its great. All the people working there got on really well and the older ones looked after the younger employees and they seemed to go out at least 3 times a week all together and from the sound of it had really good nights out.

Overall my friend is thinking of working there again next summer as socially its great.

[valeryblack]

I wwas in a camp beaumont as a student, not staff and its just horrible.
They have a crap organisation and accomodation, and are completely iiresponsible. (1 kid got lost when we were shopping, when we visited London, they sent some people who hadn't ever been in London to be our guide, etc)
Trust me, u don't want to be part in such a staff.

[*loobylou*]

Doesn't sound very promising work wise but it's the social life you go for.
Thanks both of you for your information

[Embojembo]

hiya! i worked at pgl this summer and met somebody there who had worked at Camp Beaumont. She said that the training was nowhere near the standard of the PGL training and that it was very disorganised. if your thinking of doing something like camp beaumont i would recommend PGL, its awesome. 12 day training course, best 12 days ever and support throughout the whole season. pay is not great, but that can be expected as you get food and accomodation. job satisfaction is great though. and socially, i wish my contract was longer, people there are great and the bar is cheap em x

[Talya]

Having experienced both PGL and Beaumont as a kid, I'd say go for PGL, staff were happier and more knowledgeable/better trained there

[beach surf babe]

Another similar company is NST. They seem to be really friendly. I applied for a job but they didn't have any vacancies but now they're recruiting for 2007 starting from January. The website is www.nstjobs.co.uk

[*loobylou*]

Thanks everyone.

I went PGl when i was younger as well and loved it but i heard they don't take many people on for the summer which is when i could work. So thought i'd see what other options there was.

Anyone worked at kidzclub summer camps?

[Embojembo]

if you apply early for PGL, say November time for the summer and are willing to work at any centre then you have more chance of getting a contract. I got a contract for the summer months from July 5th till September 9th including the 12 days training in that so I only worked for the Indie season over the summer holidays. Its definately worth applying! em x

[kit1080]

If anyone got their 'contract terminated' through no fault of their own after being told they had a job with camp beaumont then you can claim compensation despite what their supposed contract says. I had my contract terminated one week prior to the start of my employment because they did not get enough bookings. I showed the contract, that claims that they can do this without compensation, to a lawyer and it contradicts UK employment law. As a result, I wrote a letter and am now recieveing compensation. If anyone is in a similair position then i would be very happy to help them obtain compensation by sending you a copy of the letter i sent to them, written by the lawyer. Camp beaumont take advantage of students. After being so poorly treated by them i have taken it upon myself to spread the word in case there are other people who found themselves in a similair situation. Also ive spoken to people who worked there this summer who i met on the training day and apparently they are slave drivers. All the group leaders have to work a few hours a day longer than in the contract but you do not get paid for the extra hours. Im sure the social side of working at camp is fun but they pay poorly and treat staff very badly.

[Cherry Kisses]

Yeh its very unorganised and they dont pay you for the extra hours you do.. However, It was great fun and I miss it.

[Raluca]

Isle of Wight - The Real Deal
There is a huge difference between what they are offering and what they are advertising. The buildings are old and smelly, the bathrooms are filthy, there are spiders all over the place, they always assured us that every problem was to be solved, but no measures were taken ( ). The organization is very weak, during some very cold nights they refused to turn on the heating, the instructors (group-leaders) are bored and unenthusiastic, sometimes children waste time instead of being engaged in the scheduled interactive activities, there are 12-15 children in each group and most of the times only one leader is involved with each group, the evening activities are not organized well and children are poorly supervised, kids are not allowed to change clothes or get warmer clothes during the day, if needed, because dormitories were locked (some of them had to stay out in the rain only in their T-shirt, while leaders were wearing raincoats!!!), the food is not enough, especially when you go on a trip (you get a sandwich, an apple and a bag of chips as lunch). When we were there, there was at least one child who tested out positive for the AH1N1 influenza (swine flu) – there were at least 50 children who were presenting symptoms at a certain point; the management team decided to keep it under raps and what they published on their site was that “they have the situation under control”. Their “under control” really means: no doctor on site, the ill kids were placed in an isolation room where they were sleeping on mattresses which were placed directly on the floor, it was very cold, the door did not shut, there were cardboards instead of windows, they did not receive proper care (only two pills during the 4 days they were isolated). The First Aid personnel (which I really doubt that had medical training) did not even bother to check the Pastoral Care Form, about kids’ medical history, allergies, etc.
This is a very expensive camp and definitely it is not worth the price. We are never going back there and I hope that anyone who reads this will think twice before believing their offer and before deciding to go there.

[wallflowerx]

very interesting to read your review, Raluca. I worked for the first few weeks at IOW of Camp Beaumont, but decided to leave due to the horrible conditions of the place.

Children's parents are paying a high price for this, and I especially feel sorry for the ones that came in during the week you are talking about. I was sickened by the fact the children were sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and had one child put in isolation in the back room of first aid, where I was told not to go in there as they did not want to put my health at risk. To hell with my health, this child wasent even from the UK, had no one else with him, and was very ill, if I hadent of checked on him, would management have even got him meals, checked he was okay? I asked on various occasions, could we get a doctor out and management just told me they were on the case but never got round to it.
One child had high difficulty breathing, and when I asked a member of management if I should phone the doctor, I got told they were probably faking it. I didn't want to take that risk, so I called an ambulance out anyway, and luckily she was fine.
Organisation is shocking, the accomodation for children and staff is disgusting, but this is only for that summer. I would never go back to Isle of Wight, but this may not have been the same for every Camp Beaumont.
Another thing, I do not understand their organisation for the children in the groups, you could have one group that had an age range from 8 - 17 doing parachute games. Why on earth would a 17 year old want to play parachute games?

[Marta13]

Dear friends;
We are a spanish family that is considering to send our son, who is 12 years old to the UK during the summer time to learn english.
Camp Beaumont offers the programs that we are looking for, but we don´t have much information about them and would appreciate if you could please provide some info about this organitation.
Thank you
Marta

[Marta13]

Raluca
I am currently considering to send my son, a 12 years old Spanish boy to one of the camps of Camp Beaumont.
I would highly appreciate if you could provide as much details as possible about their performance and also if there has been any glance of improvement during the last years,
Thank you
Marta

[Origami Bullets]

(Original post by Marta13)
Dear friends;
We are a spanish family that is considering to send our son, who is 12 years old to the UK during the summer time to learn english.
Camp Beaumont offers the programs that we are looking for, but we don´t have much information about them and would appreciate if you could please provide some info about this organitation.
Thank you
Marta

How about having a look on the British Council's website for learning English? There's a search form on the right where you can look for junior vacation courses. http://www.educationuk.org/

For instance, this might be an alternative? http://www.ate.org.uk/superweeksplus.html#10

[tigger15]

I went to the Isle of White one at 12 and it was one of the worst weeks of my life. Our camp leaders yelled at us all the time and complained constantly about how much we were wasting their time. A 15 year old boy got thrown from a second story window by some older boys and had to go to hospital. None of the staff cared. We were not allowed on the computers to contact our parents, and I was allowed to call my mum once for ten minutes after I qued up for fifteen minutes to be allows to 'borrow' my phone. The food was horrible and not enough, I lost almost five pounds! I was told to 'get over' my nut allergy when I said I couldn't have peanut butter sandwiches. I spent most of my time crying to be honest. At that point I was terrified of spiders and the dark, so when the bulb broke in my cold dorm, and they didn't replace it for two nights, I was really frightened. There were spiders everywhere, it was dirty and it all spelt bad. The loos especially were horrible. We were locked out of our rooms during the day, and I wasn't allowed to go back to get my medication even! I was made to do activities like zip wire which I hated and water stuff in -2 temperatures and driving rain. Nearly got pneumonia.
I would definately not recommend sending a child there, or working there. It's horrible.

[xcherryx]

Hey,
I worked at the Island last summer and I thought it was a really good way to gain experience if you're interested in working with kids, and it is pretty good pay as you normally work there for about 6 weeks. Overall, it was a bit stressful and disorganised but great fun and you make lots of new friends