English summer camp in Trentino for ages 10–17

Three hours of teaching a day, split between classroom lessons and interactive workshops. A placement test on arrival sorts the children into level groups; mornings work on grammar, conversation and pronunciation, and the workshops use music, cinema, theatre and role-play of everyday situations so the language is used rather than only studied. Teachers stay with the group during activities as well as in class.

The stay is sold by the week or the fortnight. Everyone leaves with a certificate of attendance that counts as a school credit in Italy, the workbook of exercises they have done and a written assessment from their teacher. A Trinity examination can be added, and an optional insurance cover is offered.

Children sleep at the Hotel Polsa, a three-star mountain hotel kept for camp guests only; the Hotel Dolomiti and Hotel Bellavista are used in the same way. Rooms have been renovated and have private bathrooms with a shower. Rooms are tidied daily, bed linen is changed every three days and personal laundry is done midway through the session.

Full board at the hotel. Each main meal offers two choices, planned against age-based dietary tables.

Afternoons and evenings are given to sport and creative work: tennis, archery, football, volleyball, climbing on an artificial wall, horse riding, dance, guitar and aerial silks. Excursions include a half-day walk on the Sentiero della Pace past First World War forts cut into the rock, and the Parco Avventura tree-top course at Polsa, which is included on fortnightly sessions. Trips to Gardaland and to the Cavour water park are optional.

The camp sits at 1,244 m in the Monte Baldo Nature Park. The hotels are reserved for the camp; there are six synthetic-grass tennis courts, an artificial climbing wall, an archery range and a swimming pool at the hotel, opened at set times under supervision when it rains.

A day starts at 8:00 and ends at 22:30: lessons from 9:30, sport and activities in English through the afternoon, entertainment in the evening at 20:30 and quiet time in between. Staff are chosen and trained on child-protection protocols, an assistant is awake overnight and a doctor lives on site for the whole session.