One of the reasons for being so careful to make sure all the parents know what to expect and to get that documented, is that to make all this work with the kids you'll be building a community of intimacy and trust with them - and yes, I think having a sleepover/camp early on will help a lot with that. Everybody - kids, parents, teachers - needs to see that there is nothing that happens in the course that kids would need to keep secret from parents, because a climate of secrecy has the potential to be dangerous for everybody.

Do you have any sense about how many kids are likely to do the course? Will there be kids from outside your congregation, whose parents hear about it and want their kids to be part of it?