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Summer Camp FAQ
For kids who have completed JK to Grade 2
Pre-registration for current families: February 14 at noon
Families will be sent an email 1-2 days prior to this date with a secured link to register.
- Note: only families with a child enrolled in a RisingOaks before/after school program, or a sibling of an infant, toddler, or preschool child enrolled at RisingOaks, or a child of a RisingOaks employee are eligible for pre-registration
Registration opens to the public on: March 1 at noon
RisingOaks now offers a single Summer Camp program at each location (8 in total) with one group of 26 spaces for children who have completed JK, up to Grade 2. For Summer Camp 2025, this is for children born in 2017 up to and including 2020.
This allows us to balance staffing needs during busy vacation months and to focus on the younger campers for whom there are less community-based camp options.
All registrations for camp weeks will be processed online using one of the following payment methods:
- Credit Card
- If you choose to pay a deposit now and the balance later, please remember that 50% of the balance will automatically be charged to your account on July 1 and the remaining 50% on August 1.
- Ideally the credit card expiry date would be after 08/2025.
- No service fees or convenience fees associated with paying by credit card are charged to you, though RisingOaks reserves the right to do so for future camp seasons.
- E-cheque
- The e-cheque option is processed directly from your bank account.
- You will need to enter your bank's 5-digit transit number, 3-digit institution number and your bank account number at the time of registration.
- If you choose to pay a deposit now and the balance later, please remember that 50% of the balance will automatically be debited from your bank account on July 1 and the remaining 50% on August 1.
- A $30 service fee is charged for returned payments.
Have a Discount Code?
If you have been assigned a discount code, be sure to enter it into "Your Cart" before you check out.
If you do not have access to a credit card and don't know if you qualify for a discount code to allow you to check out without paying at this time you may call our head office (or email ) to request an exception and provide an alternate payment method. Note that exceptions are only considered in extenuating circumstances and may not be approved. This will also delay your camp registration and may result in your child being wait listed for a specific week.
Under the new Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program, children <6 years will qualify for reduced fees.
If a child turns six in July or August, they will only qualify for reduced fees until the end of their birthday month.
For more information on the CWELCC program, visit https://risingoaks.ca/cwelcc-10-day
No, summer camp registration is only available online. If you don't have access to a computer and/or require assistance, one of our location supervisors will be happy to assist you with online registration at any of our summer camp locations in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge or Ayr.
In the Sign-in box at the bottom of your screen, click the "Password reset" words. This will bring up a new screen where you will then put in the email address that you used for your CampBrain summer registration account. After adding your email address, click the blue "Submit" button. The next screen shows confirmation that an email has been sent to you in order to reset your password. Be sure to check your junk mailbox to ensure you don't miss the email.
Yes. All registrations are done online. Note that camp spaces fill up quickly. Families who receive fee subsidy have two options for payment when registering:
- Pay the weekly deposit ($50/week) via credit card at the time of registration.
- Enter a subsidy discount code provided by RisingOaks Early Learning.
Current RisingOaks' Families who are in receipt of fee subsidy:
You will have received a letter that provides you with a subsidy discount code. This unique code will allow you to check out without paying.
Not currently atending RisingOaks?
If you are not a current RisingOaks family whose child attends our before or after school program, and you qualify for fee subsidy, please review the summer camp resoruce page provided by your subsidy case worker. This includes a special subsidy discount code to be applied when you register for camp at RisngOaks.
If you are not already in receipt of fee subsidy from the Region of Waterloo, but think that you may qualify, please apply for subsidy at https://webroa.regionofwaterloo.ca/childrensservices/en-ca/services. In the meantime, you can register for camp by paying a deposit via credit card or e-cheque. If you are later approved for fee subsidy, your fees will be refunded.
What happens after I use the subsidy discount code?
After you complete registration using the subsidy discount code, a supervisor will review your camp registration and reach out to the Region of Waterloo to confirm eligibility.
- If you are assesed a partial payment, RisingOaks will contact you to set up your payments.
- If you do not qualify for subsidy, RisingOaks will contact you to obtatin payment for the full fees via credit card or e-cheque or your camp registration will be cancelled.
Yes! With the online registration you may register and pay for multiple children at once. When you set up your household, add all children you wish to register. Choose “Start a New Application” and then select (check) the children you wish to register. You’ll then move to step 2 where you select weeks. At the top of this section you will see tabs for each child. Add camp weeks to your cart for your first child and then click on the 2nd child’s tab to add their camp weeks. If you don’t see the tabs, scroll to the bottom of all weeks and click on the red “Add People” link.
The youngest group of children to attend RisingOaks' Camp program must have already completed a full school year in JK.
If you require assistance, one of our location supervisors will be happy to assist you at any of our summer camp locations. You may also contact us for assistance.
Absolutely! We welcome new families and children do not have to be currently enrolled in a RisingOaks school-age program. However, children who are currently enrolled in RisingOaks' before and after school program do have first priority to registration starting 2 weeks prior to registration opening to the public.
Children do not have to be enrolled in school at one of RisingOaks' current locations or be Catholic to attend camp at RisingOaks. RisingOaks welcomes all families regardless of their home school or religion.
On the main Summer Camp Registration web page, you will see all of our camp locations listed, along with their address. You may wish to select the location nearest your home or work.
RisingOaks has teamed up with CampBrain. This program is well known in the industry and is user friendly. Here are just some of the benefits of CampBrain:
- Register and pay for multiple children in the same registration application.
- Pay by credit card or e-cheque direct from your bank account.
- No additional fees for paying by credit card.
- All families have the option of paying a deposit by credit card or e-cheque, with the balance due in two installments at a later date.
- All camp forms and waivers are filled out online.
At time of registration, your selected week is held for 30 minutes in the que allowing you time to complete your registration and mandatory forms.
Families who attended camp at RisingOaks last summer may login as a returning user. Once you access the home page of the registration system, if you are a returning user, enter your login details on the left side. If needed, use the forgot my password option to access your account.
Families who did not attend summer camp last year will need to create a new camp user account. Creating a new user account is quick and easy, just complete the details on the right-hand side and choose Create Account. Once you register for camp, much of the information you add this year will carry over for following years.
CampBrain, our camp registration partner has introduced Queue It, a technology solution that mitigates against system crashes during peak registration times in an effort to help make everyone's registration experience a smooth one.
- On launch days*, all those who are on the registration site 15 minutes before registration opens will be placed in a pre-queue.
- You will see a "Registration is Opening Soon" message.
- At 12:00 pm, registrants in the pre-queue are randomly assigned a spot in line and the waiting room officially starts.
- Anyone who joins/visits the registration iste after 12:00 pm will be added to the queue in order of arrival.
- They will be greeted with a "You're In Line" message.
- The fields to sign into an existing account or create a new one are not available until it is your turn.
* Launch days are February 17 (for current RisingOaks' families) and March 1 for the general public.
If a camp week is full, you will see an orange Waitlist Available indicator beside the week. To add your child to the waitlist, click on Show Details, then Add to Waitlist. If a space becomes available, the supervisor at that location will contact you. Wait list priority goes in order of the date and time it was submitted at. You may also choose to check the availability at another one of RisingOaks' camp locations and sign up there.
The online registration is user friendly. Be sure to read all the instructions at the top of each page before proceeding. Be sure to save and Complete each form as you go along.
- Create an account if you haven’t done so yet. Log in if you have already created an account.
- Click the “Manage People and Household Information” button to add your household and children’s information.
- Click the “Start application” button to begin the registration process. Follow the onscreen instructions.
- Fill out all the mandatory forms. Your registration is not complete until you do.
- Select your payment of choice.
- Review and submit your application.
- Check your email inbox and junk folder for a conformation email indicating the details of your registration. *If you have not received a confirmation email, you are not registered.
Whatever you have saved and completed will still be there when you login at another time. If you started an application, you will continue were you left off. However, please note that once you add camp weeks to your "cart", they are only held in queue for you for 35 minutes. After that time passes, those spaces are released and available to others who are trying to register.
In order to move on to the next step, you must complete all mandatory information and forms. The website is intuitive and error messages will pop-up telling you what you need to do. One thing to check is that you added both the session (week) and session option (regular rate or CWELCC rate) to your cart.
If problems persist, please contact your centre supervisor.
Upon successful registration, you will see a confirmation message appear on the screen and you will receive a confirmation email indicating the details of your registration. Please check your junk mail box for an email from RisingOaks.
If you did not see a thank you message and did not received a confirmation email, you are not registered. Please go back into the system and register again.
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A full refund will be issued for any cancellation request received in writing (i.e., paper or e-mail to the centre supervisor) by April 30.
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A partial refund (after a $50 cancellation fee per child, per week) will be issued for any cancellation requests received in writing by the following dates:
- Between May 1 and May 31 for July camps (i.e., weeks 1 to 5)
- Between May 1 and June 30 for August camps (i.e., weeks 6 to 8)
- No refunds or credits will be issued as of the following dates:
- As of June 1 for July camps (i.e., weeks 1 to 5)
- As of July 1 for August camps (i.e., weeks 6 to 8)
Please see the list of important dates to confirm all cancellation dates by camp week.
https://www.risingoaks.ca/summer-camp-fees
Per our official Payment Policy, refunds are not issued for statutory/public holidays, missed days due to illness, injury, vacation, scheduling conflicts or for unforeseen centre closures (e.g., COVID-19, natural disasters).
For those who choose to pay the deposit rather than the full amount at the time of submitting their application, the remaining balance is split into two payments with 50% due July 1 and the final balance due August 1. The pending payments are processed automatically on these dates and charged either to your credit card or debited from your bank account if you paid by e-cheque.
Just log back into the camp system and follow these steps:
- Choose View Registration Details
- Add Campers, Sessions or Options
- Check off the child's name
- Then proceed to add camp weeks
Once your forms are submitted, you will need to contact the location supervisor if you need to make changes. The supervisor can make minor edits on your behalf or re-open the form allowing you to edit it in your registration portal.
Upon logging in to the summer camp registration website, click on the blue “View registration details” button. Scroll down to the Financial header, then click on the link Download "Printable Season Account Statement".
In late February, RisingOaks will email you a copy of your Camp Tax Receipt. The information is the same as the Printable Season Account Statement, but incldues the header of Tax Receipt and some notes regarding how to apply it to your taxes.
RisingOaks will provide an afternoon snack daily and a pizza lunch one day a week. Please send your child with a morning snack daily and lunch 4 days per week. You will be notified prior to the start of camp on which day of the week will be pizza day.
RisingOaks is committed to the fundamental principle of providing and maintaining a healthy environment for all children and staff. In particular, this includes all those who may be susceptible to anaphylaxis, the term used to describe acute, severe, life-threatening allergic reactions to a substance. RisingOaks' goal is to minimize and control allergies through education. Employees and students that work in the centres are required to participate in anaphylaxis training bi-annually. In addition, a review of the use of Epi-pens and Twinjects® is conducted a minimum of twice annually.
Although it is difficult to ensure a risk-free environment, RisingOaks has designated all of its locations as “Allergy Safe” and will not knowingly serve nut products. Anaphylactic reactions to other substances (for example: eggs & milk) are dealt with on a case by case basis. RisingOaks requires that any individual (e.g., children, employees, students, and volunteers) at risk for anaphylaxis have an Individual Emergency Anaphylaxis Plan.
Click here for more information on our Anaphylaxis Emergency Plan
