POLICY

ENROLLMENT

AGE and MATURITY

• We do not accept children under the age of 5 in any camps, kidz night out, or other programs except where designated as a “pre-school” program.
• Most 4 year-olds, and many 5 year-olds do not have the necessary maturity to handle the structure, transitions, reading, and other aspects normally included in a Bricks 4 Kidz program.
• We respect that many parents consider their children to be “advanced” and we have already taken this into consideration into our approach to the age recommendations.
• Please do not enroll a child that is too old for the age recommendation without first speaking to us.
• If you enroll a child who does not fit in the recommended age or grade levels, we reserve the right to un-enroll the child. We will notify you if we do this.

REFUNDS, RESCHEDULES, and CREDITS

• Refunds are not given for any reason. This includes cancellations, changes of plan, sickness, suspensions, expulsions, and moves.
• We can transfer credit from schedule to another, provided you give a minimum 7-day notice. If we have a waiting list and can fill the seat, we may consider a credit exception.
• Credit transfers are not given for suspensions or expulsions.
• If you file a charge-back with your credit card or bank for any program that we did not refund, we will file a case with our Merchant Service provider to vigorously fight the charge-back, since our policies are clear on the website are not unreasonable. Your account will also be inactivated and you will not be allowed any future enrollments with Bricks 4 Kidz.
• Bounced Checks – Please do not submit a check that you do not have the funds to cover. We charge the bank fee + $10 for re-processing in addition to the event fee. For a second offense, your account will be inactivated.

SIGNING-IN / SIGNING-OUT

CAMP HANDBOOK ACKNOWLEDGMENT

• While we do not require a separate signed agreement to our published Handbook, parents and campers are expected to understand and abide by the policies.

RESPONSIBLE ADULT SIGN-IN/OUT

• Do not send your child in alone. We require an adult to sign each child in at the desk and note who will be picking up.
• We need to make sure you have a current waiver on file.
• We do not give children out to people not listed in the registration. If you need to add someone to your list, please note that at drop-off, or call in so we can add them.
• If someone tries to pick up who is not on our list, we will call you first.

MORNING CAMP CHECK-IN

• Please arrive between 8:50-9:10 am.
• Anyone dropped off before Morning Camp Check-In (8:50 am) will be charged the Early Drop-off Fee.
• If your child is going to be late or absent, please call or text to let us know as soon as you can.

MORNING CAMP CHECK-OUT

• Please arrive between 11:50-12:10pm.
• Someone you have authorized must sign out your child.
• We do not send children out to you; you must come in to pick them up.
• Children not picked up by 12:10 will be assessed the morning late stay fee.

NOON HOUR EXTENDED CARE

• If your child is staying with us for both the morning and afternoon camp, we provide a supervised lunch period (discussed below).
• However, we do also allow you to drop off at noon for afternoon camp, or leave your child until 1:00 from the morning camp for an additional charge. In either case, we request that you provide a lunch for them.
• Anyone picked up after 12:10 will be charged for Noon Hour Extended Care.

AFTERNOON CHECK-IN

• Please arrive between 12:50-1:10 pm.
• Anyone dropped off before Afternoon Camp Check-In (12:50 pm) will be charged the Early Drop-off Fee.
• Do not send your child in alone. We require an adult to sign their child in at the desk and note who will be picking up.
• We need to make sure you have a current waiver on file.

AFTERNOON CHECK-OUT

• Please arrive between 3:50-4:10pm
• Someone you have authorized must sign out your child.
• We do not send children out to you; you must come in to pick them up.
• Children not picked up by 4:30 will be charged the afternoon late stay fee.

LATE STAY

• Late Stay Pick-up is available until 5:05 pm and will normally be held at the Center.
• Anyone picked up after 4:30 will be charged the Late Stay Fee.
• Campers picked up later than 5:05pm will be charged $20 per quarter hour to cover the cost of employee overtime.

LATE/EARLY ARRIVALS

• We respectfully request that you adhere to the drop-off/pick-up timeframes
• We have a planned itinerary for the camp period, and drop-offs or pick-ups outside the allotted windows can throw things off for your child, as well as disrupt the experience for other children.
• If you know you are going to be late, or need to come early, please let us know as soon as possible by calling or texting 506-898-2660.

TOYS FROM HOME

• Please do not allow your children to bring toys, even if they are theme-related.
• This includes stuffed animals, blankets, and especially LEGO pieces and min-figures!!!

CALLING YOUR CHILD DURING CAMP

• While we expect to keep your child busy and engaged, if you need to call during a camp session to check on how your child is doing — please feel free to do that. Note that we sometimes miss calls in the middle of camp, since … we are in the middle of camp. We will return your call as soon as possible.

ELECTRONICS

• Children should not bring electronics from home unless they are needed for health monitoring. If there are other reasonable exceptions you feel your child needs, please call or email in advance.
• We use tablets and computers for various activities, however, we provide all the electronic equipment children need for the activities we do.
• We often take pictures of things each child builds during camp to share with you later.
• If a child needs to call their parent during camp, we allow them to do that with the Bricks 4 Kidz business phone number. We encourage you to save our number in your phone — 506-898-2660.

FOOD

NUTS/TREE NUTS/PEANUT BUTTER

• Due to the high number of children with severe allergies to peanuts and tree nuts, and the close space we have, we request that you not send nuts, tree nuts or peanut-butter.
• If you send a snack or lunch that includes peanuts or tree-nut, we will ask you to replace it.

STAYING THROUGH THE LUNCH HOUR

• We offer supervision during the lunch hour for those staying for both the morning and afternoon camps.
• Children staying for both the morning & afternoon camp must bring a nut-free lunch or be picked up between camps.
• If you are picking up your child for lunch, we request that you pick them up during regular pick up time (11:50-12:10) and return them during afternoon camp drop off time (12:50-1:10). We request that you respect these time-frames as not to be disruptive to either the morning or afternoon camp, and so as not to keep your child unnecessarily hungry.
• Since we have a limited amount of space at Bricks 4 Kidz, parents are not able to eat lunch at Bricks 4 Kidz with their child.
• We do not allow children to trade or give away lunches from home with other children.
• We make the assumption that your child can handle the packaging and food they will need to handle. Please send plates, napkins, forks, spoons, etc., as appropriate for the meal you have sent.
• We do have 1 microwave on site. We request that meals sent only need minimal cooking time, (no frozen meals!)

BEHAVIOR

3 EXPECTATIONS

• We often tell the children that our “Number One Rule” is to “Have Fun.” It certainly is true that learning can (and should be) an enjoyable experience.
• To this end, we always cover our “3 Expectations” for children while at Bricks 4 Kidz. Most behavior issues that we encounter in children can be redirected with a simple, gentle reminder of one of these 3 Expectations:
  • Be Safe.
  • Be Respectful.
  • Be Responsible.

• Most times if we have a problem with a child, it only requires a gentle reminder to get back on track.
• If a gentle reminder doesn’t work, the next step is usually to clarify whether the child understands the expectation, and give the child another chance.
• If it is clear that a child understands the expectations, yet continues not to follow them, we will make every reasonable effort to redirect the child to meet the expectations. Unfortunately, this sometimes means a child may need a time-out to “calm down” or “think about it.” On a very rare occasion we may have to temporarily suspend, or even expel a child from our programs. This is never taken lightly, and would normally be because a child has put the physical, emotional, or mental well-being of other children in jeopardy.
• We do not tolerate abuse whether physical, emotional, or mental.

TOUCHING / PHYSICAL CONTACT

• Our policy is to avoid touching as much as possible. This goes for staff-to-student, student-to-staff, as well as student-to-student.
• We ask siblings not to touch each other (hugs, hand-holding, kissing, etc. … other children in the program are not always aware of who in the camp is a sibling and this can be confusing.)
• Hugs and other forms of physical affection are normally perfectly acceptable among family and close friends, but every family has different “norms”, and we want to help the children in our programs understand boundaries and personal space.
• If a child physically attacks another child, or endangers other children by their actions, we will intervene. On rare occasions this has meant holding the child’s hands, arms, body, or legs, as deemed appropriate by the instructor to prevent endangerment to others while we work on calming down the violent child and sorting out the issue.

VIOLENT CONTACT BETWEEN CHILDREN

• We do not tolerate hitting, kicking, slapping, pinching, or any other form of violent contact.
• This includes between siblings.
• Any child who hits another child, will be suspended for the remainder of that camp day and the following day.
• Any child physically attacking any other child twice in a week (including a sibling) will be expelled.

RESPECT and FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS

• Children are expected to listen to and follow instructions. If a child refuses to be teachable, makes a habit of interruptions in teaching or instructional time, etc. (i.e. will not accept Gentle Reminders), they will be put in time out. If it continues, they will be suspended for the day.

COMPETITION Vs COLLABORATION

• While competition has its benefits and its place, at Bricks 4 Kidz, we focus more on activities that encourage collaboration and cooperation. Everyone can learn to be a “Master Builder” and everyone can learn to be a “mentor.”

GRACIOUSLY DISAGREEING

• While it is not uncommon for children to have a disagreement, we make every effort to ensure that disagreements are not taken personally — we can graciously disagree. It is perfectly acceptable for one child’s favorite color to be green, and another child’s to be red, but not for them to argue over which color “is better.”

BULLYING

• Any activity one child does to “have fun” or derive pleasure in a way that hurts anyone else in any way is bullying.
• We do not tolerate bullying — physical, mental, or emotional. Bullying results in an immediate time-out.

NAME-CALLING

• Name-calling is not tolerated.
• A child who name-calls will be reminded to “Please Be Kind and Respectful” and the offense will be documented and a note go home.
• A second offense within a week will result in a time-out.
• A third offense within a week will result in a documented phone call to the parent or guardian with a reminder of the previous and current offense and that if the child does it again, they will be suspended. (see SUSPENSION below)
• A fourth offense within a week will result in suspension.

POTTY MOUTH

• Potty Mouth is not tolerated.
• Potty Mouth is an immediate time-out.
• A subsequent potty mouth incident in the same camp season will receive a suspension.
• 3 Potty Mouth Incidents in a camp season will result in expulsion.

SWEARING

• Swearing is not tolerated.
• Any child using any words commonly considered “swear words” will be suspended.
• Any child swearing more than once in a season of camp will be expelled.

THEFT

• Theft is not tolerated.
• Most of the LEGOs and projects that the children work with will be taken apart and re-used for subsequent camps — children do not take home what they build. That said, for any camp, a child will normally get to make a  “mini-figure” to take home, as well as possibly some crafts and other things. Occasionally, a LEGO piece or two might accidentally go home in their pocket … we expect these to be returned … that’s an understandable mistake. However,  children who intentionally take things that do not belong to them, will be suspended.
• Any child committing theft more than once in a season of camp will be expelled.

DAMAGING PROPERTY

• Damaging property or breaking things is not tolerated.
• Any child who intentionally, maliciously breaks something will be suspended and the family charged for damages.
• Any child who intentionally, maliciously breaks something more than once in a season of camp will be expelled and the family charged for damages.

DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES

We have 5 levels of discipline:

• A Gentle Reminder
• Take-A-Break
• Time-Out
• Suspension
• Expulsion

A GENTLE REMINDER (Verbal Warning)

• The vast majority of behavior issues with children in our programs are addressed and resolved with a gentle reminder.
  • “John, sticking your finger in the gears is not safe. Let’s be safe, okay?”
  • “Jill, please do not throw any LEGO pieces, that is not safe.”
  • “Billy, we don’t take LEGO pieces from other people — that is not respectful or kind. Would you please give that back to Bobby?”
  • “Reagan, the rest of us are being responsible and picking up. We need you to please help, too. Okay? Thank you.”
  • “Bob, we don’t need to name-call, let’s be nice to our friends. Thank you.”
• Sometimes it takes a couple of gentle reminders. So long as a child is responsive within a reasonable amount of time, and so long as their inattentiveness is not causing other issues, we try to be as reasonably patient as we can while keeping things moving along.
• However, a minor issue can become a bigger issue if the child is continually doing the same unaccepted behavior, which can result in needing to Take-A-Break or have a time out.
• Gentle Reminders are normally handled by the immediate counselor.
• Gentle Reminders are not considered serious offenses, and are not documented.

TAKE-A-BREAK

• Take-a-break is used to get the child’s attention if Gentle Reminders are not doing the trick.
• We ask the child to sit away from their group briefly — make sure we have their attention and that they understand what behavior they are being called out for, and what response is expected.
• Sometimes the child needs to be simply taken out of a situation for them to see the broader ramification of their behavior. The goal is to give them a moment to “reset” and get back into camp mode.
• The child will be told, “{Name}, I’m not sure if you realize this, but {unacceptable behavior} is not something we do here at Bricks 4 Kidz. I need you to Take-A-Break for a minute over here away from your group. I will be right back with you.” The counselor will give some “cool down and think about it time before going back to the child. “{Name} — so, {unacceptable behavior} — think we can go back to {replaced acceptable behavior?}. If yes, child will go back. If no, child will be given a couple more minutes.
• Take-A-Break is normally handled by the immediate counselor.
• Take-A-Break is not considered a serious offense, but will be documented so that a director is aware.

TIME OUT

• We make use of a “time out” in cases where a gentle, verbal reminder and/or Take-A-Break has gone unheeded by the child, or in case of more serious incidents.
• The intention of a time-out is to remove a child from a conflict they have created, allow extra time for the child to calm down, to allow time for the instructor to ensure that others affected are able to go back to what they were doing, for the child to identify the unacceptable behavior, to identify what the expected behavior was, to demonstrate to the other children in the group that the behavior was unacceptable, and to allow a few moments of reflection before returning to their activity. Sometimes this will mean that the child is not able to finish the activity they were working on before the conflict.
• The child will be told, “{Name}, {unacceptable behavior} is not acceptable. I need you to go sit at {designated location} for time-out. It is now {time}. I will be with you in just a moment so we can talk about this and make sure we can get back on track.”
• We do not have a designated “time out chair” but will choose a location that takes the child away from the other child, group, or activity that their conflict was with.
• The instructor administering the time-out will normally be the one to speak to the child about it. Occasionally, depending on what activity or group they were handling, it may be another instructor or manager.
• Any time-out administered will normally be documented — the day, the time, the child, the offense, the administrating instructor, the redirect given, and other staff witnesses.
• It is important for the child to understand why they were sent to time-out, and what they could have done differently in the first place.
• Time-out will normally last the number of minutes the child’s age is.  (e.g. 5 years old = 5 minutes; 8 years old = 8 minutes)
• We try to base the length of the time-out based on when the child was sent, and not when the instructor is able to talk to them, however the instructor will make a judgment call based on how long it takes them to leave the activity or group they are overseeing, whether the child understands the issue and what they could have done differently, and whether the child indicates they are ready to change their behavior and go back to their activities.
• Time Out is normally handled by the immediate counselor, but will also bring in a director to document the offense.
• Time-Outs are documented and a note will be sent home with the guardian picking up regarding the time-out.

SUSPENSION 

• Suspension can happen if a child has not heeded previous warnings, and does not appear to be interested in changing unacceptable behavior patterns. Suspension causes a child to be withdrawn from the current day’s activities, and lose the opportunity to return to the following day’s activities.
• If a child does return for a later day after the suspension period, and needs more than a Gentle Reminder (e.g. if a Gentle Reminder has to Be Documented due to repeated offenses, or if the child gets a “Time Out”), the child will be expelled.
• We do not allow In-Camp Suspension. If a child is suspended, a parent or guardian must immediately come to remove the child from the premises.
• If a child is suspended it is for the remainder of the day plus one following day.
• A parent or guardian will be asked to pick up the child.
• While waiting, a child will remain in a designated time-out spot until picked up (bathroom breaks are an exception).
• Suspensions are initiated by a director.
• There are no refunds or credits given for days missed due to suspension.

EXPULSION

• Expulsion is extremely rare and unfortunate, but sometimes necessary.
• Children who continue to repeat unacceptable behaviors after already being suspended for them will be expelled.
• Children who endanger the safety, health, or well-being of others will be expelled.
• Expulsion is a very rare occurrence, and will only happen in cases of extreme egregious behavior or repeated, documented issues with no change. Expulsion could be for a single act if it in any way endangers the safety of other children, or for smaller things if the child has continued a repeated unacceptable behavior pattern with warnings that have been documented and escalated.
• Expulsion results in a child not being eligible to return to Bricks 4 Kidz for the remainder of the current season. (e.g. the summer or the school-year)
• A child who is expelled, must be picked up immediately.
• There are no refunds or credits given for days missed due to expulsion.
• The account will be inactivated and a special request needs to be made by the parent in order to return, with the promise that the child’s behavior has significantly improved in the intervening time.
• Expulsion is for a minimum of 3 months.
• Any child wanting to return after 3 months, MUST have a parent-signed apology sheet, with a promise from the parent and the child that the previous behavior will not occur, and that if it does, it will be an immediate expulsion.
• Expulsions are initiated by a director.
• Refunds are not given for expulsions.

What if I have questions not covered here?