Scotland Siblings & Young Carers Camp 2019

What Scotland Siblings & Young Carers Camp 2019 did

Over The Wall ran a week-long break in the summer holidays for siblings of children aged 8 - 17 living across Scotland who were experiencing health challenges. Camp took place at Strathallan School in Perth from 7th to 13th July (inclusive). The week revolved around fun and creative activities including an inflatable obstacle course, swimming, archery, Minecraft, lip sync battle, create-a-comic, laser tag, tie dye, graffiti and movie night.

67 young carers came to camp. 56% heard about OTW camps through their hospital, health or care provider, 21% heard about us from another carer, 4% found us online,19% via another charity. Priority was given to young carers who had not attended an OTW camps before and 18% of campers were new to camp. We also prioritised those most in need who had the most to gain from joining us at camp. This was based on a variety of factors including the likelihood of the young carer getting a break in any other setting and psycho-social challenges such as their experience of bullying, isolation and poor mental health. OTW regional and clinical co-ordinators contacted each applicant to assess need and assist them through the recruitment process which took place between November 2018 and March 2019. They also informed our camper wellbeing co-ordinator of any children who required a bespoke camper care plan to ensure their emotional needs were met whilst at camp. In the same period an amazing team of 57 volunteers were recruited and trained to help support the campers during their break.
This camp was a rare opportunity for the young carers to be the full focus of attention, and to let their hair down, leaving behind any worries and responsibilities they were dealing with at home. They were free to give themselves fully to the mischief and magic of camp.

What Over The Wall has learned

Our Scotland Siblings and Young Carers Camp 2019 was run concurrently, and at the same site as our Scotland Health Challenge Camp 2019. The two camps were completely individual and the children attending the different camps did not mix or do the activities at the same time. This was a new model of delivery for us and we learned several things about operating the camp in this way.

From a budgeting perspective we learnt that by running the two camps simultaneously, we could reduce our overall expenditure on the Scotland Siblings and Young Carers Camp which in turn reduced our cost per camper. This was a positive outcome as Over The Wall is always looking to be as economical as possible with how we spend our donations.

At Over The Wall camps we have a policy that all the children attending camp should be able to take part in all of the activities. If one child is not physically able to do a certain activity, then we do not include it on the programme. Although the Health Challenge Camp and the Siblings and Young Carers Camp were separate, they did share the same site, and contained some siblings across the 2 camps.

At the camps this year we had children who could not take part in climbing and so we did not have this activity available. Feedback from the returning young carers surveyed showed that they did miss the adrenaline fuelled climbing wall, and preferred outdoor activities. We will take this into account when running our programme in 2020, perhaps including more alternative outdoor options if climbing is not a possibility.

In 2019 18% of campers at our Scotland Siblings and Young Carers Camp were new to Over The Wall, however we would like this to increase to nearer 25%. In order to reach out to and engage new families we have started our recruitment period earlier this year, opening applications to camps in October. This should give more time for our marketing team to advertise camps to new parents, as well as more time for new parents to ask questions and go through the application process before the deadline.

How Over The Wall has benefitted from the funding

Thanks to the Creative Breaks funding Over The Wall has been able to embed the Scotland Siblings camp into our programme of work and provide a consistent service for young carers in Scotland which may be relied upon. There has been an increase in the number of referrals from outside agencies in Scotland over the past 12 months which suggests Creative Breaks funding has helped us to build a strong reputation nationally. Having the support of Creative Breaks also reassures other funders, particularly Scottish trusts and foundations, that we are a safe pair of hands.