‘It’s like Lord of the Flies’: Children sent home from summer camps for vandalism
Youth movement FZY apologises for "issues which have given you as parents cause for concern" as disruptive participants asked to leave and several parents collect their children early
FZY has issued an unprecedented apology to parents of summer camp participants amid allegations of vandalism and misbehaviour.
Four programmes, across school years 7-10, were run by the youth organisation at two different sites; one based in Norfolk and the other in Kent.
Dozens of participants are believed to have left the camp for younger years, where places cost more than £1,000 per person, with anonymous sources telling Jewish News the number is in excess of 50.
In a letter apologising to parents, members of the FZY advisory board said a higher number “than one would normally expect” of disruptive children had been part of the camps this year. “It got to the point where a number of the participants have been removed from the camp.
“Unfortunately a number of other participants also have decided to leave and whilst this is a great shame, we now feel that there is much tighter group which should improve the experience for your children.” Some participants, according to the letter, had left toilet facilities in a bad state before the situation was sorted out by on-site cleaners and the FZY team.
The letter also suggested some had suggested there was too much free time – with the advisory board members putting this down to Tisha B’Av and Shabbat being in quick succession. They insisted that had also received some positive feedback but acknowledged overall “there have been issues which have given you as parents cause for concern and which the camp leaders have been working tirelessly to address”.
Although FZY did not confirm the total number of children that had left the camp, they insisted reasons for leaving included homesickness or a family holiday as well as being asked to leave because of bad behaviour. The group said: “This year, more young people have left our Year 7 summer camp than our normal rate, but our Year 8, 9 and 10 camps have seen a similar rate of young people leaving to previous years.”
A parent of a child at the Norfolk camp for Years 7 and 8, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Jewish News: “There are no elder ‘statesmen’ with gravitas who know what they’re doing.
“They keep sanctioning the kids and then reversing the decisions. If you leave kids unsupervised without any activities, they’re going to do silly things, and then you sanction them for silly things. Sixty boys have gone and they’ve started blaming the kids.”
Video footage of a large group of Year 7 and 8 participants chanting ‘This is a prison’ to the camp leader, who is struggling to control the situation, has been seen by Jewish News as have photographs of two participants being helicoptered home by their parents.
The anonymous parent added that launching the camp on Tish B’av was “a strategic failure” and that there “was nothing educational or befitting on the day to talk about the worst days of Jewish history. Why not have a programme that works for them? There was no real programme for the first three days”.
They added: “Food is always poor in camp, but it’s all inedible and lots of parents are sending food parcels. It feels like Lord of the Flies down there and the lunatics are running the asylum.”
Another parent commented: “They haven’t got the leaders or the content. On every level, they’ve failed. You want them to enjoy that communal spirit but they will never want to go again and that causes a systemic problem in Anglo Jewry that goes beyond one crap camp. They are hugely under resourced. They’re in a crisis. Reputationally, no one one will come back to camp on the basis of this. Thank G-d FZY tour was great this year.”
While the letter to parents insisted safeguarding was the number one priority, one father told Jewish News the camp was “chronically understaffed, and staffed by teenagers who were completely over-awed.”
Keith Berelowitz, father of a 12-year old daughter at the Norfolk camp told Jewish News he understands that “kids being unruly is unacceptable. The food being unacceptable? So be it. The accommodation not being the Ritz? The kids need to toughen up.”
But for him, the issue that comes up is safeguarding. His biggest concern is a female madricha who was “using very inappropriate language to friends of my 12-year-old daughter, calling them ‘sexy bitches’ and one a ‘slut’”.
Berelowitz says in fairness to FZY, they removed the female leader from camp, but “there’s more to it. I don’t think it’s been handled well. I wasn’t happy with the email from the Trustees.
“They have a very strict code of conduct with the emphasis on kids behaving but the behaviour of madrichim is appalling in this regard. They are clearly not trained properly. There’s not sufficient adult supervision. It shouldn’t take a 12-year-old girl to get a message to me that there’s a problem on camp and there’s a serious safeguarding problem.”
He adds that with the youth movement charging “around £200 a day, its absolutely insane if they think this is adequate.You’re looking at £400k for this particular camp and you’re telling me they can’t afford to have proper adult supervision on site. What I’m not going to accept is that they don’t acknowledge there is a wider problem because as far as I’m concerned this is a police issue.”
Jewish News shared these particular concerns with FZY, who said in a written response that they were are aware that a parent had raised the issue and have had discussions with the parent to explain the actions they took.
Executive Director Joel Jacobs wrote that: “Safeguarding is our number one priority. Our leaders are between the age of 17-23 and volunteer to provide the best experience for our chanichim (participants). They have gone through extensive training and this year we paid for each of our staff to go through an additional CPD Safeguarding Course. Unfortunately, in spite of this, we did need to remove one leader for unacceptable inappropriate behaviour which we condemn.”
FZY states that as soon as they found out about the behaviour, they “immediately separated that leader from the group and launched an investigation”, which quickly resulted in that person leaving the camp. We sincerely apologise for it.”
Jacobs adds that having discussed the matter with the movement’s legal committee, FZY believes that this incident “does not warrant any further action.”
Parents with a child at each of the Norfolk and Kent camps said: “We are so irritated and frustrated by the lack of safeguarding, it’s been a nightmare. We have two kids at camp. Our 14-year-old is on the Kesher camp in Kent; and our son is the Ofek camp in Norfolk, which has been a catalogue of disasters as soon they arrived there.”
The family say that FZY never communicated with them that their daughter’s 12-day camp would be in outdoor accommodation.
“She’s turned up and they’re all staying in outdoor facilities with outdoor showers, no doors, no locks. The girls are showering in swimsuits and bikinis because they’re worried about their privacy. Because everyone assumed, and we weren’t told beforehand, she didn’t take the necessary amount of clothing. On day two she called us in tears, she was freezing and shivering through the night.” Her father made an emergency round-trip to Kent to drop off duvets and hoodies. He said that the camping facility itself told him that the normal maximum number of days they have guests stay is five, not 12 days.
Joel Jacobs, executive director, FZY told Jewish News: “Like all parents who send their children to FZY summer camp, we expect that participants will have a fun and positive experience. However, all youth summer camps naturally face some challenges. Unfortunately, one of our camps this summer has encountered a number of issues regarding behaviour.
“Our leaders and staff have worked tirelessly to address them and we are fully committed to learning lessons for future years, as we always do. FZY has been privileged to run summer camps for the last 30 years and we saw unprecedented demand for places this year. We fully expect that the vast majority of participants enjoyed a fun, positive, engaging Jewish and Zionist experience.” He said that some parents were deeply apologetic about damage caused and offered to pay to fix it.
Not everyone’s experiences have been negative, however. Richard Stone, the parent of a 14 year old at the FZY camp in Kent, told Jewish News: “He is having a great time. The camp is good opportunity for the kids to get out of their comfort zones and have some independence with other Jewish kids from around the country in a safe and fun environment. FZY have put on fun and educational activities. The camp helps instill their Jewish identities. FZY is a non- profit making and non-judgmental organisation which requires the community’s support.
“Yes at times not everything goes as planned and not all kids are going to be happy and enjoy all activities all of the time. Big thanks to the leaders for giving up their time and part of their summer to try and give the kids a great experience . I am disappointed to see on social media what appears in some instances an over reaction.”
Juliette Coleman said her 12-year-old daughter had really enjoyed the her time on FZY’s Ofek camp. “I feel really sorry for everyone at FZY who were trying their very best to give our kids a really fun educational experience. I would be happy to send my daughter again next year.”
Founded in 1910, FZY is the oldest Zionist youth movement in the UK.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
