Information for Teachers

The festival is free for schools to attend. The City of Hamilton along with our generous sponsors and partners provide transportation to and from the event, festival T-shirts, stainless steel water bottles, lunch and all the activities free of charge.

Registration

Visit the Hamilton Children's Water Festival page for information regarding registration.

The City does not provide trip forms for the festival as each school’s requirements may be different. All trip information is available in this document and through the updates posted here.

Teacher Safety Protocol and Acknowledgement

  • The H2O Puppet Show
    Image Puppet Productions through the City of Hamilton
     
  • Micro Safari: Life in a Drop of Water
    Royal Botanical Gardens
     
  • TellGreat Canadian Shoreline Cleanup​
    ​​
  • Hot Potato Hand Wash
    City of Hamilton, Public Health Services
     
  • Wheel of Knowledge
    Hamilton Conservation Authority
  • Water, Water, Everywhere
    Green Venture
     
  • Rain Garden Relay
    Bay Area Restoration Council
     
  • Getting Back to Our Roots
    City of Hamilton, Forestry
     
  • The Food Chain Game
    Ontario Ministry of the Environment & Climate Change
     
  • The Filtration Station
    ArcelorMittal Dofasco
  • Who Lives Where?
    Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association
     
  • Safety & the Sea! (Wind, Water and….PIRATES)
    Royal Hamilton Yacht Club
     
  • Water Treatment Plant
    City of Hamilton, Hamilton Water, Plant Operations
     
  • A Drop in the Bucket
    City of Hamilton, Hamilton Water, Infrastructure & Source Water Planning
     
  • ​Osprey Survivor
    The Hamilton Naturalists' Club
  • Toilet Talk
    City of Hamilton, Public Works, CS&CO
  • Neato Deeto No More Mosquito
    City of Hamilton, Public Health Services
     
  • Put Waste in the Right Place
    City of Hamilton, Public Works, Corporate Assets & Strategic Planning
     
  • ​Highway H2O
    Hamilton Port Authority
     
  • Where does the water go when it goes down the drain?
    City of Hamilton, Public Works, Plant Operations
  • Trip of a Drip
    Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology
     
  • A Fish Tale
    Hamilton Conservation Authority & COH IPSD
     
  • pHish Race
    City of Hamilton, Public Works, Environmental Lab
     
  • Down the Drain:Learn to Conserve Water
    Blue Dot Movement
     
  • ​Water Distribution & Waste Water Collection
    City of Hamilton, Public Works, Distribution & Collection  
     
  • Water Main Break
    City of Hamilton, Public Works, Distribution & Collection
     
  • Waterfront Trolley Ride
    Hamilton Waterfront Trust
     
  • Unbottle It
    Green Venture
     
  • Activity TBD
    Partner TBD
     
  • ​Only Rain Down the Drain - Catch Basins Lead to the Natural Environment
    City of Hamilton, Public Works, Compliance & Regulations

Buses

Teachers do not have to book transportation to the festival. The City of Hamilton will coordinate buses for schools to and from the Water Festival.

Bus arrival times will vary from school to school, but you can expect the bus to arrive between 8:55 to 9:30 am. The buses that we use must complete their morning school runs before they can pick up the students for our festival. If you require a more exact time you can contact the festival coordinator Robert.Richarz@hamilton.ca two weeks prior to the festival. At this point the bus company will send their final confirmations with estimated arrival times for each school.

Adult supervisors

The minimum ratio of students to adult supervisors is 10:1. Remember that if you are bringing students that require assistance, your ratio may need to be greater. Adult supervisors can be teachers or adult volunteers.

On the day

Activities begin each day at 9:55 am and the last activity will finish at 1:30 pm. This leaves time in the morning to bus all students to Pier 4 Park and enough time to get them back to school before the dismissal bell.

It is mandatory that all participants and volunteers wear the festival t-shirts. This is part of our Safety and Security Policy. Pier 4 is a public park and we need a quick way to tell who belongs at the festival and to ensure that the students stay within the festival grounds. All students and adult volunteers must have the school name written in their shirts.

If you have students with specific dietary restrictions some accommodations can be made to the lunch menu based on dietary restrictions. Please contact the festival coordinator for more information. The more notice you give on restrictions the better chance that we have to accommodate them.

Lost items

During the festival the lost and found is located at the Information Tent near the park entrance. After the festival an email will be sent out to all registered teachers with a picture of all unclaimed items. These items will be held until the end of the school year at which time unclaimed items will be disposed.

Online survey

We ask that you do take the time to complete the surveys. We use the information to help us get sponsorship for the event (important step in ensuring that the festival remains free for schools). We also use the information from the surveys to improve the event each year. Your comments are important to us and have led to some significant changes in the way we run the Hamilton Children’s Water Festival.

Contact

The Hamilton Children’s Water Festival Coordinator, Rob Richarz can be reached before the festival at 905-546-2424 Ext. 5154 or during the festival at 905-973-4652.