Brighton Secondary College | The Summit Blog

On the stunning afternoon of Wednesday, 16th September 2026, The Summit welcomed the Year 9 students and teachers of Brighton Secondary College.

Students were shown straight to their accommodation, home for the next few days, before gathering in the Lodge for the official welcome. Coach Spinks introduced the camp and the coaching team of Mim, Timmy, Fish, Liv and Monty, then shared The Summit’s own recipe for the best camp ever, and the ingredients are the 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”

A game of 50 Up wrapped up the Lodge session before everyone headed down to the Stage. Liv and Monty ran the Helmet and Harness briefing, then Mim introduced the Target, Stretch and Super Stretch goal-setting strategy, the tool that helps campers grow their comfort zones and take on the toughest activities.

Target — what you know you can do.

Stretch — what you think you can do.

Super Stretch — what you think is impossible.

Day One – Activities & Tribe Names

Camp opened with an initiative challenge, a puzzle that could only be cracked by working together. It tested teamwork and leadership straight out of the gate, and every team rose to it.

From there it was into the first activity rotation. Across the three days the tribes took on:

Sky Bridge
Flying Fox
Abseiling
Leap of Faith
Inflatables
Rockwall
Bush Challenge

Between them these challenged bravery, team spirit, support, trust, creativity and problem solving, to name just a few.

The tribes proudly created their team identities:

Welcome to Brighton
Hot Stuff
67 FIH
Donners
Be Sav
Larping Drillers

With the first rotations done, Day One closed by introducing the students to a favourite Summit tradition: GMICs, or Great Moments in Camp. GMICs are all about writing down and celebrating the incredible moments we notice in each other, whether that is courage, encouragement or someone simply having a great time.

Day Two – Intentions, Tribe Challenge & The Monster Course

Day Two opened with an epic talk from Spinks on setting a morning intention, and on focusing energy where it counts most: the things we can control. Students were asked who they wanted to be, and how they wanted to show up for themselves, for each other and for the activities ahead.

A quick game of Jockeys got everyone moving, then it was down into the park for three activity rotations.

After lunch came the Tribe Challenge, with tribes going head to head across Tic Tac Toe, Volleyball and Shoe Bowling. Hot Stuff took out Tic Tac Toe, Be Sav claimed Volleyball and Donners won Shoe Bowling.

The Monster Course

Then it was time for the famous Monster Course, a feat of teamwork, strength and resilience.

The tribes threw everything at their first lap, not realising the twist waiting for them: they would be running the course twice, and the winner would not be the fastest team but the team that improved the most on their second run.

They pulled themselves together and went again. Every single tribe took five minutes or more off their first lap, with stretches and super stretches achieved right across the group. Outstanding effort.

The day ended with some very well-earned hot showers.

Final Day – Gratitude & Celebration

The last day began with a stack of GMICs read out to the group, before Fish led a gratitude session. Students were asked to think about who and what they were grateful for, to check back in for the final rotations, and not to go home wondering “what if”.

The crew headed down to the volleyball court for a warm-up game of Huckle Buckle before the last two activity rotations of camp.

As the final challenges wrapped up, every tribe voted for the teammate who had best embodied the Five Keys across the three days. Once announced, those students took a hot lap in The Summit’s army tank, cheered on by the whole Year 9 cohort.