92% of Parents Want Summer Camps to Open in July
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
92% OF PARENTS ARE LOOKING TO SEND THEIR KIDS TO SUMMER CAMPS
The survey was released to S4K parents, through S4K’s social media channels and to the wider public.
The survey was conducted and reflects the views of parents between the 5th June and the 28th June 2020.
James Porter UK MD of Sport4Kids, said: “Parents are overwhelmingly wanting to get their children to socialize and take part in organised physical activity. Only a quarter said it was dependent on safety measures. "
The top reasons or benefits of the camps to their children were:.
• 97% Organised Physical Activity
• 90% Opportunity for Social Interaction
• 81% Mental Well-being
• 68% Re-Building Confidence
• 64% Opportunity for Learning
• 41% Respite for Parents
James added "Parents are also concerned about their children and the effects the lockdown not only on their fitness but also their mental well-being and confidence levels. Parents believe that children have borne the brunt of the Covid-19 lock-down and need help and support. Without the schools they see it as the camp providers who can step in over the Summer months. These areas reflect the void left with school closures for the majority and a need for children to meet their friends in a controlled, safe environment for exercise and learning new skills.
Marie Willoughby, Head of S4K Camps explained further: “Supporting parents’ is crucial at this time where struggling families have missed school and social gatherings. Filling the void left by patchy school support and the suspension of the whole sports community, is now critical for children’s physical and mental well-being. A return to organised activity in the Summer Camps will help parents get the support they need..”
When asked about camps matching the school 1 to 15 ratios and 15 children in a group bubble, 82.2% said they were either comfortable or extremely comfortable. Only 7% said they were uncomfortable and none said they were extremely uncomfortable.
When asked how comfortable they were for children to encroach the social distancing rule 89.3% said it was fine as long as it was for short periods and all hygiene measures were in place. With 10.1% stating that as long as it was for brief periods passing each other in a game. Only 1% stated it was unacceptable at all times.
Safety and Hygiene remain important but only 26% said that they needed reassurance on safety measures before returning to camps. When asked about which safety measures they value, the following measures were supported.
• 87.4% Improved Hand Washing Facilities
• 87.4% Regular Disinfecting of Equipment
• 77.8% Self Declaration Signed By Parents as to Health
• 26.3% Social Distancing
• 26.2 Access To Written Policies and Risk Assessments
• 17.2% Coaches wearing PPE
It is interesting that Parents do not emphasize social distancing and that may reflect the need for children to get back to normal. Also that a vast majority do not see PPE helping to a greater extent.
Marie added: “We have supported the parents and children in lock-down with S4K TV and kept in direct contact via WhatsApp, and even reunited the coaches with their children with live Zoom classes. Now is the time to support our parents and children with live Summer Camps. We aim to return to Summer Camps with the safest and most protective environment and policies in the industry bar none.”
Sport4Kids currently operate across the country and were recently recognized in the Parliamentary Review as ‘Best Practice’ in the sports sector. S4K intends to regularly check the views of parents over the coming months as the various lock-down measures are eased and the pandemic journey continues.
-ENDS-
Editors notes:
• Sport4Kids launched in 2012, and run classes and sports education in multiple sports every day of the week in schools and venues across the country with the aim of revolutionizing children's sports education.
• Sport4Kids is distributed through a franchise network across the UK www.s4kfranchising.com and we is looking for new partners to join the network.
• S4K Franchising Limited was awarded ‘Best Practice’ in the 2019 Parliamentary Review following its work in the sports and education sector.
• S4K run sports classes for football, rugby, dance, tennis and cricket, work in schools delivering sessions, and host birthday parties for children of all ages.
• Coaching starts at 18 months at Sport4Kids, and the comprehensive curriculum is broken down into each stage of a child’s development.
• The ‘S4K Way’ is based on Montessori learning, alongside child development psychology and world class technical skills coaching.
• For more information, or interview opportunities, please contact Karun Jung at karun.jung@sport4kids.biz or call 07394 473630.