The International School of Port of Spain (ISPS) Summer Camp offers three weeks of fun filled, structured, safe, exciting and enjoyable vacation experience to the children from ages 4 to 12 years old. The programs offered at the Camp incorporate four general  themes: Academics, Arts & Culture, Science & Technology and Sports. Area specialists and counselors lead the instructions in each theme. The Camp is under the auspices of the Elementary School (ES) of the International School of Port of Spain. The ES Principal also functions as the Camp Director. The Director leads a team of Counselors who are selected from the school’s faculty, high school students, university students and graduates.

Summer School/Camp 2011 Dates

Session 1: Monday 27^th June 2011 – Friday 1^st July 2011

Session 2: Monday 4^th July 2011 – Friday 8^th July 2011

Session 3: Monday 11^th July 2011 – Friday 15^th July 2011

Time: 9:00 am – 2:30 pm ^{(Summer Camp Hours)}

Time: 9:00 am – 11:30 pm ^{(Summer School Hours)}

A Message from the Camp Director

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to ISPS Camp 2011

At ISPS Summer Camp, we seek to establish a supportive environment that encourages and excites your child. We hope our camp can be a place where children can have fun, broaden their learning, meet friends, and just have a great time. Each year, campers return and usually bring along a friend.  

Our staff members are carefully chosen and have a passion for learning and teaching. Experienced teachers and professional instructors form the core of the teaching team. College and high school students with strong academic backgrounds serve as counsellors. We expect each student to be part of the ISPS Camp family, where everyone can pursue his/her interests, try new activities, and develop his/her talents. The quality of the teaching staff, as well as the student to teacher ratio enables each child to have a positive, rewarding experience. We believe our programs have something for every child to enjoy.

Last year we had a group of students from Venezuela who joined the camp, and they had a great time learning English. We are excited that another group from Venezuela will be joining us again this year.

Thank you to all the parents who have been enrolling their children in the summer school / camp programme over the past years. We do look forward to seeing your children this year.

Sincerely,

Camp Programs

The I.S.P.S. Summer Camp offers a wide range of activities for ages 4 – 12 years old for their Summer/July holidays. There are four age groups: 4 – 6, 7 – 8, 9 – 10 and 11 – 12. Campers take part in variety of activities designed to engage and challenge them while having fun.

Academics

The Academics Camp is only for ISPS students in the Elementary School who have been recommended by their classroom teachers. In addition, transfer students who will be entering the Elementary School in the new academic year, are allowed to enroll in the Academic Program.

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Reading and Language Support

 This program targets our students whose first language is not English. This program will provide an intensive and interactive session for our enrolled students to learn English in a practical but enjoyable environment. Our students at this level are taught how to speak proficiently and confidently, enhance their vocabulary and personal language capabilities.

Arts & Culture

Art and Craft (A&C)  

Our campers are exposed to various media of visual expression:

• Painting using water colours and acrylics

• Drawing with pencils, pastels, chalk, and what they see in reflective surfaces.

• Making masks, models made from everyday materials, paper mâché pieces and wire bending

• Pottery

• Tie-dying cloth

Cooking

All the campers are introduced to a wide variety of international cuisine. They learn various cooking techniques and methods. We also expose our campers to healthy and nutritious foods as well as the safety aspects in the kitchen environment. This program is offered to all campers. PEANUT PRODUCTS are not used in the kitchen to avoid any allergic reactions.

Dance

Our dance program has been very popular with our campers and is offered to the 4 – 10 age groups. They are introduced to Hip hop, Rap, R&B, Indian, Latin and Interpretive dance to name a few.

Drumming

Campers in 9 - 12 age group will learn basic skills in drumming. They will learn about the different sounds of the drum (areas), rolling, cutting and rhythms.

Arts & Culture / Science & Technology

Digital Music Production (DMP)

In Digital Music Production (DMP), our campers create music on the computers and learn to appreciate, compose and develop different genre of music from Electronic, Latin, Rock, Instrumental to name a few. Campers will be exposed to Sony Acid Pro ® music workstation for composing, recording, mixing, and arranging audio. This activity is offered only to the 9 – 10 campers. Music tracks created in this activity can be selected for the Camp DVD and the 11 - 12 group's video.

Digital Photography (DP)

Digital Photography is another popular activity that is offered to the 4 – 10 campers. The campers may bring their own digital cameras. The campers are introduced to many ideas and techniques in digital photography:

• Understanding the digital camera

• Deciding what pictures to take

• Compositional Styles

• Different camera shots

• Using light and colour in their pictures

• Troubleshooting common camera problems

• Practicing and experimenting with various camera techniques

Campers will have the opportunity to edit and add some creativity to their own picutres, using both the Kidpix Software and Adobe Photoshop. 

Video Production (VP)

Video Production is offered to the 11 – 12 years only. The activity focuses on various aspects of movie making:

• Planning: plot, script-writing, roles of different persons in a movie, shooting schedule and checklist, set design and location.

• Production: camera techniques, scene selection, composition, lighting, acting and actual filming of movie.

• Post-production: importing movie into computer, editing and adding special effects to the movie, saving the work and exporting the film to miniDV tape and DVD.

The campers will be using Sony digital camcorders for filming and retrieving footage. This year, the campers will be collaborating with the dance group to create a choreographed music video which will be filmed then edited with the Sony Vegas ® software. Campers would learn about chroma key (green screen) and other popular modern editing techniques. They also incorporate original music created in Garage Band by the 9 – 1 0 years old video production.

Science & Technology

Exploratory Science (ES)

Our inquiry-based Exploratory Science program exposes our campers to the study of Nature, the Environment, Earth, Physical and Life Sciences. Campers have fun with hands-on experiments, for example, using magnets. The program is also augmented by the PCS Brick Lab® Survey Series.

Information Technology (IT)

Our Information Technology classes are offered to our 4-10 age groups. They use the computers in our Elementary School Media Lab in a fun, interactive learning environment. They also practice typing in our IT classes. This activity fuses with the DP classes especially using the computer stores, edit and print pictures.

PCS Brick Lab® Survey Series

The PCS Brick Lab® Survey Series is an extraordinary learning lab that combines sophisticated hands-on learning methodology with the inherent excitement of intuitive manipulative to engage and motivate the minds of the campers. The Brick Lab encourages students to explore the foundations of Construction Engineering, Communication, Mathematics and Physics by participating in an exciting array of hands-on activities. The campers will complete tangible, physical projects, the outcomes of which are relevant to the real-word. The Brick Lab compels students to build models, design experiments, and solve problems in a challenging, fun environment.

Robotics

The campers are exposed to engineering design and modelling, using the fischertechnik®, a German manipulative that has been around for over 40 years and is used throughout the world for industrial modelling, university engineering courses, and K-12 science and technology activities. The Camp uses PCS Edventures Robotics Challenge (ERC) kits consisting of fischertechnik® materials bundled with PCS Edventures high quality curriculum and program materials. Industrial and mechanical engineering students who have a background in engineering design, machines mechanics, control systems technology and automation instruct the course.

Sports

ISPS Summer Camp encourages a healthy and active lifestyle in our campers. Our sports program offers many different sports and physical activities for our campers. They include but are not limited to Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, Football/Soccer, Bowling and Volleyball.

Field Trips

The Camp has field trips on Fridays to different parts of Trinidad and Tobago. The field trips are selected for cultural, educational, entertainment, historical or physical value. Brand new and exciting field trips are in store for this year. More information is released closer to the field trip in camp newsletter. Please note that field trips maybe cancelled due to weather conditions.

Registration Form: (Register Here)

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Registration

Registration opens from April of every year and continues until the last week of camp. It is recommended that registration forms are completed and submitted early to guarantee a space and t-shirt in the camp.

Download the Registration Form for Summer Camp or Summer School, fill it out and email to isps.summercamp@gmail.com. This ensures that the information is entered in the Camp database. When making payments, print out the completed form and sign the field trip permission slip.

When printing the form, use two-sided printing or reuse paper that has already been printed on one-side. This help to conserve paper and in turn conserve the environment.

Payment Information

Enrollment

A non-refundable deposit of TT $200.00 / US $34.00 is required to reserve space in the summer programme. This deposit is part of the enrollment fee which goes towards the programme cost.

Each week of Summer Camp cost TT $750.00 / US $123.00

Each week of Summer School costs TT $1000.00 / US $164.00; In addition, any student who wishes to enroll in the Summer Camp, pays an extra TT $355.00 / US $59.00 per week. The Day Fee cost is

TT $200.00 / US $34.00 plus the Field Trip on Fridays are TT $50.00 / US $8.00

1. Cash is the preferred payment option. Trinidad and Tobago (TT) currency is the preferred currency;  

    however, United States (US) currency is accepted.

2. Linx (Debit Card). Credit cards are not accepted.

3. TT or US Dollar Cheques made out to the International School of Port of Spain (ISPS) are also  

    accepted.

All fees must be paid in full on or by June 1st 2011 before the child begins camp.

Please note there will be no refund for any cancellations of any part of the summer program.

Information for the Parents of Campers

• Ensure your campers wear comfortable clothes and footwear (sneakers). Heels are not recommended as they can be dangerous.

• Campers must bring their own water, snacks and lunch as the school cafeteria will not be open during the Camp. Please do not send any peanut-based products to camp as to reduce the chances of peanut-based allergic reactions in at-risk campers.

• Campers wear their camp T-shirt on Field Trips. T-shirts are distributed during the first week of camp.

• Please provide a broad spectrum (UV A & B) sun block with a SPF 15 or more for your children as the sun can be very powerful in Trinidad and Tobago. Wide brim hats are also acceptable.

• Label all items that are brought to camp.

• We advise that personal electronic devices such as hand-held gaming devices (e.g. PSP), portable music players (e.g. iPods) and cell phones should not be sent with the campers. Older campers are permitted to have cell phones for emergency use only. They should be turned off or placed on silent/vibrate during the instructional/camp activities. The organisation is not responsible for any child who loses his/her phone.

• Any child leaving the campus before dismissal at 2:30 pm must sign out. Please call the Camp Office at (868) 633-4777 ext.123 to inform the camp if your child is not being picked up by the regular person.

• Provide working email addresses, as the camp communicates information via email and e-newsletters.

Schedules

• Summer Camp runs from Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 2:30pm.

• Summer School runs from Monday to Thursday from 9am to 11:30am.

• There is a 15-minute Break from 10:30am and a 45-minute Lunch from 12:15pm.

• Campers assemble in the Gymnasium from 8:15 a.m. and must be collected no later than 2:45 p.m.

• Campers need to be in Camp by 9:00 a.m. on Fridays to be ready for the Field Trip. All buses for field trips leave at 9:15 a.m.

• Schedules will be emailed in the camp newsletters.

Health, Safety, Security and the Environment

• Parents must sign out their children if they chose to collect them before dismissal at 2:30 p.m. Please call the Camp Office at (868) 633-4777 ext.123 to inform the camp if they are going to send someone different to pick up their children.

• On Field Trips, the campers must wear proper and comfortable footwear especially if they are going on a hike.

• Campers are assigned to different counsellors and teachers for safety reasons.

• We don't use any peanut or peanut-based products in our Cooking classes to prevent any allergic reactions.

• Parents must fill out and sign the Field Trip permission and Medical Information parts of the Registration Form. Any camper whose parent has not explicitly signed the field trip permission slip will not be allowed to go on the trip.

• There are several certified First Aid personnel on staff. They are all experienced and have provided First Aid in different situations.

• ISPS Summer Camp strives to provide a healthy and safety environment for the enjoyment, enrichment and enlightenment of our campers. The teachers and counsellors stress safety at all times in every activity. There are established fire and emergency routes and procedures for the camp.