The camp has been providing a wholesome summer experience for over 90 years — new skills, independence and lifelong friendships inside a safe and nurturing community, built around its core values of integrity, loyalty and service.
By age group. Eight to ten year olds are in the Junior Unit, in a cabin with limited electricity and a bathroom, sharing with four or five other girls, at least one staff member and a counsellor-in-training. Eleven to thirteen year olds are the Mid unit, living with three or four girls their age, a counsellor and a counsellor-in-training; younger Mids in cabins with electricity, older Mids in platform tents with a nearby bathhouse with hot showers and flushing toilets. All Senior campers live in platform tents.
By letter. Six days a week after lunch the girls gather at the Barn for news from home, and each girl writes home at least once a week. The camp is unplugged from email, texting and mobile phones; the camp office is always available for a phone call with a counsellor or the administrative team.
Campers are assigned to a table each week and sit with a counsellor in a multi-age setting. Alongside the main entree and side dishes there is a salad bar for lunch and dinner, a yogurt and oatmeal bar at breakfast and a pasta bar at lunch, with dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.
On arrival campers choose five activities and a schedule is built on a one-to-five ranking, with the top pick coming round most often. First-time campers try each activity before signing up, and campers staying four weeks or longer may change activities at the midpoint of their stay.
The camp asks campers to take a break from electronics. MP3 players with all video removed are allowed — older campers may listen during quiet times, and all campers may use them for music, talent and skit events. Hand-held games and mobile phones are prohibited. Cameras may be brought, bearing in mind that campers spend most of their time outdoors.
Fleur de Lis Camp has been continuously accredited by the American Camp Association for more than five decades, complying with over 300 safety standards from staff qualifications to emergency management.
Girls entering the last two years of school, admitted by application. It is an immersive camp counsellor training experience run across the full summer.
Reveille at 7am, Password at 7:35 and breakfast at 8, then squads and tent clean-up, three activity periods before lunch at 1pm and rest hour at 2. A fourth activity follows at 3:30, then free swim, choice or free time, supper at 6, an evening programme at 7:30, cabin and tent time at 8:45 and taps at 9pm.
