On Monday, 7th September, the Year 6 students and teachers from Aspendale Gardens Primary School arrived at The Summit, ready to kick off three days of adventure, challenge, teamwork and plenty of fun!
After getting their bags to their accommodation and fuelling up over lunch, everyone came together for the official welcome. Team Leader Simon kicked things off with the camp logistics, before Coaches Fish, Stevie, Ant, Mont and Lucy introduced themselves and shared The Summit’s Five Keys.
The Five Keys
- Have Fun
- Play All In
- Make Lots of Mistakes
- Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
- Don’t Go Home Wondering “What If”
With the mindset set, the coaches delivered the Helmet and Harness briefing before introducing the Target, Stretch and Super Stretch goal-setting strategy.
Target — what you know you can do.
Stretch — what you think you can do.
Super Stretch — what you think is impossible.
A big group game helped put the strategy into practice before the students headed into their first challenges.
Activities & Tribe Names
After an initiative challenge designed to help the students discover their strengths as a team, the groups came up with their Tribe Names and launched into their first activity rotations.
With a grab-and-go afternoon tea keeping everyone fuelled, the groups powered through a second rotation before coming together for their first camp debrief.
The students were also introduced to one of The Summit’s favourite traditions: GMICs, or Great Moments in Camp. GMICs are all about noticing and celebrating the standout moments you see in others, whether that’s someone showing courage, encouraging a teammate or simply having a great time.
The evening continued with dinner, more GMICs and a Trivia Night before everyone headed off for a well-earned rest.
Day Two – Intentions, Gratitude & The Monster Course
Day Two opened with Morning Intentions and Gratitude, encouraging students to focus on what they could control and set an intention for the day ahead.
After a big group warm-up game, the crew powered through rotation after rotation of activities across the morning and into the afternoon.
Then it was time for one of The Summit’s biggest challenges…
The Monster Course
After lunch, the students hit the legendary Monster Course!
Every Tribe threw everything they had into their first lap before the coaches revealed the twist:
The winning team isn’t the fastest, it’s the team that improves the most on their second run!
With the pressure on, every Tribe dug deep and headed back out for Lap Two.
The results showed exactly what a day and a half of pushing comfort zones can achieve, with every team giving their second attempt everything they had.
After all that action, the students enjoyed dinner, more GMICs and a Movie Night to round out a huge Day Two.
Final Day – Gratitude, Reflection & Tank Time
As the final day arrived, more GMICs were read out before the students took part in their final Morning Intentions and Gratitude session.
They were encouraged to think about who and what they were grateful for before heading into the final activity rotations.
As the last challenges came to an end, it was time to recognise the people who had truly embodied The Summit’s Five Keys throughout camp.
Tribe Reflections & Tank Time
During the final rotation, every Tribe voted for the teammate who best represented the Five Keys across the three days.
Six legends were then celebrated in front of the whole group and rewarded with a hot lap in The Summit’s very own Army Tank, cheered on by their teammates!
The group then came together for their final camp debrief, thank-yous, results and group photo.
🏅 And the Values Winners Are:
- He He – Nolan
- Steve Glazons – Ava B
- The Dirty Socks – Piper
- La Peace – Logan
- The Slightly Awkwardly a Bit Dirty But Really Cool Potato with Sticks – Toby
- Tuong Tung Tough – Darcy
These students were recognised by their Tribes for showing the courage, teamwork and positive attitude that make the Five Keys come alive at camp.
🏆 Competition Results
🏆 Snowy River Challenge (fastest times):
- 12:30 – The Slightly Awkwardly a Bit Dirty But Really Cool Potato with Sticks
- 14:59 – He He
- 15:00 – The Dirty Socks
- 15:24 – Tuong Tung Tough
- 17:11 – Steve Glazons
- 21:47 – La Peace
💪 Monster Course – Improved by:
- 10:14 – He He
- 9:58 – La Peace
- 9:25 – The Dirty Socks
- 9:05 – Tuong Tung Tough
- 8:40 – Steve Glazons
- 5:34 – The Slightly Awkwardly a Bit Dirty But Really Cool Potato with Sticks
Thank You, Aspendale Gardens!
On behalf of all the coaches and the entire Summit team, thank you for joining us and giving it your all!
You set goals, pushed outside your comfort zones, supported your teammates and embraced everything camp had to throw at you.
We hope you head home with plenty of great memories, a few new stories, and the confidence to keep choosing the challenge.
We wish you all the very best for the rest of the year!
— The Summit Team
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