Steve Hartley Experienced Kids’ Camp Director
Explorer Summer Kids’ Camps Lake Bohinj, Slovenia
Summary Every summer parents and children alike are faced with a problem – finding an experience that is not only fun, challenging, unique and exciting but also educational, multi-cultural and life changing. I and my summer camps are the tools that bring this all together. I help families discover the advantages of active learning in English throughout the summer, and demonstrate the importance of learning and growing Real-Life skills that support children in building for the future. In addition to this, I consider myself to be the key that helps children unlock their own inner confidence and happinesss, self-belief, maturity and personal responsibility. At present I am based at Lake Bohinj, Slovenia with Explorer Summer Kids' Camps, where I lead a team of native English speakers in delivering an extremely professionally run outdoors experience for children from around the world aged 6 – 17. My on-camp specialities include an in-depth understanding of camper behaviour and desires, an acute awareness parent expectations and motivations, the ability to run a highly enthusiastic, skilled and caring team focused on building Real-Life skills.
Experience Explorer Summer Kids’ Camp Director Dates Employed Aug 2015 – Present. ● Planning, arranging, and organising summer program for over 120 campers in the age range from 6 to 17 years of age for a week to 2 week long summer overnight camps at Lake Bohinj, Slovenia. ● Training, overseeing, and leading a small team of staff members in the day-to-day function of camps. ● Developing, and implementing core business plan including marketing, brand expansion and social media strategy. ● Establishing, and enhancing positive communication with parents by creating a multitude of channels through which honest discussions occur. ● Empowering campers to build their Emotional Intelligence. ● Increased registration by 120% in 3 years. ● Created formal partnerships with agencies in Russia, Croatia, Ukraine and Poland. ● Supported in achieving a 81% return rate of campers. ● Reached campers from more than 17 different countries
Berlitz International Language School Kids’ and Teens’ Director (Slovenia, Czech, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) Dates Employed 2009 - 2015 ● Developed, upgraded, and implemented standardised goal and tasked based approach to teaching throughout the six countries which was adopted globally by Berlitz International. ● Created, and ran online training focusing on equipping new teachers with practical usable tools for the classroom. ● Oversaw the standardisation of all administrative work for kids’ and teens’ within the 6 countries. ● Supported the Berlitz Kids’ and Teens’ Global Quality Control in delivering and improving upon international standardised processes.
Berlitz Slovenia Language School Kids’ and Teens’ Director Dates Employed 2009 - 2015 ● Trained, motivated, supervised, supported and lead kids’ and teens’ staff in six language centres. ● Handled the transition of new teachers into classroom enabling a better quality of lesson. ● Organised, set up, and ran over six camps every summer overseeing a variety of areas including the general structure, day-to-day running, quality control, risk management, and marketing. ● Expanded to the camps to different locations of Slovenia demonstrating negotiating, organisational, and bookkeeping skills.
Project Overview Explorer Summer Kids’ Camps is an international summer English camp at Lake Bohinj, Slovenia for children aged 7 – 17 with a Junior and Senior program. We focus on building real-life skills through a vast array of outdoor and indoor activities and games completely run by native English speakers. No books. No classrooms. No lectures. No boredom. No phones! Just real-life English in real-life situations with real-life FUN! All campers are challenged to step outside their comfort zones and realise their full potential. To do this, Explorer Camps creates a warm, welcoming environment where campers can be themselves without fear of judgment. We call it a camper-centred program, the 81% of returning campers call it the best summer ever!
Activities Explorer Camps offer more than 30 outdoor activities including canoeing, kayaking, zip lining, biking, hiking, stand up paddling, summer tobogganing, survival courses, raft games, archery, water games, team building, rock climbing, slackline course and orienteering. What makes these activities especially unique is that they are run them through task based teaching, an approach that builds camper independence, organisational and thinking skills amongst others. There's a reason Explorer Camps has a 81% return rate of campers ..... Building Life Skills Did you know over 20% of young people today in Europe are unemployed with 1 in 3 large companies believing this to be due to a lack of effective employment skills? Or that experts believe that stress levels of children are the same as psychiatric patients from the 1950s? Or that Emotional Intelligence is actually a better indicator of success than IQ? Our Life Skills Program tackles these issues by building essential life skills based on 21st Century Skills that are needed for both academic success and future employment by engaging campers in fun and challenging activities. It helps camps focus on building Real-Life Skills, Real-Life Growth and Real-Life Experiences. Family Focused and Experienced Staff Our camp team boasts English native speaker counsellors from around the world who share the samegoal: to make a positive and long-lasting effect on every single camper. Each staff member brings years of experience and maturity to Explorer Camps with all of them being over the age of 30 and having worked with children for much of their adult lives. There is a camper to counsellor ratio of a maximum 6:1 which ensures that staff can provide a very personal experience for all campers.
Parent Feedback "My daughter really loved it! An amazing experience that let her grow a lot! We'll join also next year for sure!" Barbara, Italy "My son came home from summer camp bursting with excitement, he had a fantastic time, I didn't have to second-guess it. It was important to me that two things happen at this camp: he has fun after a year of hard work and that he acquires life skills. I would absolutely recommend this camp to other parents." Rose, Kenja "Explorer Kids summer camp has more than fulfilled our expectations. Friendly team, great location, interesting activities ... Great learning English and visible progress in communication for our daughter. She will be back next year for sure! Keep up the good work, guys :)" Rado, Slovenia "My son Alex loved it so much even though he used to hate every single camp he went over the summer. I was quite sure he will complain again after the camp (as all kids do :)) but was surprised how inspired he came back! He was amazed at himself - how many things he can actually do. Not the 10 year boy came back from the camp but a young man :) He could not shut up about all the things he learned and managed to do on his own.� Olga, Russia Camper Feedback "I had a great time at camp. I really enjoyed the activities they had especially archery, the jump of trust and the adventure swing. The camp counselors were also really funny. It was also great being there with my friends. I look forward to going back again next year." Antoine 11, Kenya "Everything about it is great, the activities are interesting, challenging (look at the Explorer Escape Room), and for the most part really fun (I found the canoes challenging). But what really brings the camp to life are the counselors, they are some of the most fun, understanding and helpful people I have ever met." Luka 14, Slovenia "I loved the camp, everything was perfect! I loved it so much and recommend going there on holidays. I'm going again next year and taking my friend from London with me because he got jealous at what a great time I had. " Alex 11, Russia "Awesome, great activities, food, and counsellors. Camp was a big excitement. I was very worried since this was my first time at any camp, boarding school etc. I have never left my parents for so long. I loved rock climbing and SUPing, the feeling of walking in the forest, discovering new places was crazy inspiring." Grisha 11, Russia
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