Vivre Sans Frontières
Before your child travels to France…
- Personal Details
We must be advised in advance if your child is currently or has recently experienced any major illness, disabilities, behavioral or social problems that may affect him/her or our other guests. At VSF we are continually working to enable as many children as possible to enjoy our Program. To help us achieve this, please provide full details at the time of booking or in a covering letter addressed to our Program Director. That is also one of the reason we request written confirmation from your child’s French teacher confirming the suitability of this program for him/her. We will naturally treat any personal information sensitively and respect confidentiality.
- Medical & Emergency Details
We need to know in advance about any congenital complaint and/or standard child illness, e.g. asthma, allergies, epilepsy, and whether the child has been in hospital for any reason within the 6 months prior to booking. Full details must be provided on your child’s Health Form.
> Please review our COVID-19 Guidelines, Protocols and updates Click here
During the registration process you are asked to complete a Medical and Emergency Contact Form, including a list of telephone numbers where we can contact you in the event of an emergency during camp. This form is handed to our staff on arrival at the centre. Where appropriate, please provide all relevant information concerning medical conditions and any medication or drugs currently being administered. Any pills or medication must be handed in upon arrival, together with details of daily dosage and administration.
Of course, children can sometimes feel unwell while they are on holiday and accidents can occasionally happen – but because of our safety precautions they are no more prevalent than with any children at play, probably less.
We have staff with first aid qualifications and have pre-established contact with local doctors, dentists and hospitals in case of need. Full records of treatment are kept and parents are always alerted in a real emergency. For some small accidents, e.g. bumps, scratches, grazes, we will not normally contact parents unless deemed necessary.
- Swimming
Please clearly indicate swimming ability on the Swimming Certificate. Lifejackets or buoyancy aids are always worn for water sports, except for body-boarding, surfing and snorkelling sessions. Alternative activities are arranged for non-swimmers at most holiday centers. Participants must be able to swim 25 metres to participate in Kayaking on the River; surfing and wave skiing on the sea, power boating, wave-skiing and any Water sports on the Sea. Water confidence is adequate for all other camps offering water sport activities.
- Pocket Money
VSF program is fully inclusive. However, there are sometimes excursion days and all centers feature a tuck-shop selling sweets and small souvenirs. Some centres for older children also have a pool table in the chill out room at a cost of around 2€ per game. 13-17 year olds may have the opportunity to take part in evening activities off site such as bowling or the cinema. A small charge will occasionally be made for these special excursions to cover entrance fees. There is no obligation for any guest to take part in these optional extras; a free alternative activity will always be available on site at the camp. We recommend not more than 100 € pocket money. Each Camp operates a secure system for holding and issuing pocket money.
- E-Pals
Many of our campers travel on their own, however if you feel that it would reassure your child to correspond with another single child the same age signed up in our program, let us know and we will try to match you with another camper or family. Once a match has been made we will forward the email address to each family advising them accordingly. Please bear in mind that it takes us time to build up a ‘pool’ of names before we’re able to contact you with an e-pal. We can only make one introduction per person. Please note that due to the nature of our program (Full immersion / 25 different camps), your child may be the only foreign camper in his group, however campers may arrive on their own they all leave with lots of new friends!
- Birthdays
If your child has a birthday during their trip to France with VSF, please advise us prior to travel and we will endeavor to make their day one to remember! In France this may include a birthday cake with our compliments to share with their friends…or a special party if possible.
