Oundle Mencap Holidays LTD is a registered charity that runs annual residential holidays for children and young adults with learning disabilities. The holidays are staffed by volunteers and are reliant on charitable funding for their continued existence.
Relevant to: all OMH activities
<aside> <img src="/icons/condense_gray.svg" alt="/icons/condense_gray.svg" width="40px" /> This document is in accordance with:
This document has been approved by the OMH Board of Trustees
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Adult – individual aged 18 years or older. Our Camps are for adult holiday makers only.
Camp – a holiday for adults with learning disabilities which may sometimes involve camping in tents or accommodation in a youth hotel or similar premises. These normally last 2 - 4 nights.
Child – for brevity this is term is used to encompass both children and adolescents up to the age of 19 years. This is the full age range catered for by our holidays for children.
Helper – an able young person or adult who volunteers on one of our holidays. Helpers can be categorised more specifically according to their level of experience and more information on this is provided in section 9. Also referred to as volunteers or staff.
Holiday – normally refers to a holiday for children (including adolescents). These usually take place in a permanent building and last 7 nights.
Holiday maker – an individual with a learning (and sometimes physical) disability, of any age, who attends one of our holidays.
Learning disabilities – this term is used to refer to developmental delays, reduced intellectual ability and difficulties in everyday living skills. These may result from a genetic, neurological or neurodevelopmental disorder such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or autism.
NMS – the national minimum standards for Residential Holidays for Disabled Children, published by the Department for Education[1].
Original holiday – the summer holiday hosted at Oundle School which was the first holiday run by OMH, and for many years the only one. As described in section 2 below, this holiday provides the template, or reference point, for all others.
OMH – Oundle Mencap Holidays LTD, the provider of all holiday schemes described in this document. Also referred to as the organisation and the charity.
This document aims to summarise the goals of OMH in providing residential holidays for children and camps for adults with learning disabilities. We provide background about the organisation, detail of its current activities, and reference key policies and procedures. Associated policy documents are collected in a Handbook which is referenced throughout. This is available on our website, and individual copies of the latest versions of every policy document are available at each holiday site. Other key documents which underpin the work of OMH are our Memorandum and Articles of Association and our Operations Manual, both of which are also available online / on request.