East Loddon Year 8 Camp Blog

On a hot Wednesday afternoon, the year 8s from East Loddon drove through The Summit gates; eager to get off the bus, we showed them to their Tent accommodation. Once settled in they met their team leader Steph/Spinks/Spac/Sonic and Marcus, they were then taught about the Five Keys to a successful camp:

1. Have Fun

2. Play All In

3. Make Lots of Mistakes

4. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

5. Don’t Go Home Wondering What If

They all played a game Clap Ball and we were then led to their first game of Jockeys. The group was split into two teams; Jafar and Pineapples, their initiatives were Tiles and Spiders Web, once they were done they had to complete two activity rotations of Cave and Sky Bridge where they were all being stretched outside their comfort zones.

Day two and the day started with a morning intentions session led by Steph, the video ’20 Things to Say More Often’ by Kid President was played and then the students were asked to think about their intentions for the day and to make a plan. With this in mind they met coach Lina and we played a game of 2 Ball Knock-out, once the game was completed the groups did two rotations of Trust Games and Snake and Nails. We played volleyball where the teams went head to head. Giant Swing was then run as one big group, the team smashed out 12 swings in an hour and fifteen minutes and which is impressive and a result of the hassle that everyone had during the rotation. After lunch the groups got changed into their Monster Course entire, we then warmed their bodies up with a rotation of Inflatables where we played giant table soccer and two relay races where we made the two teams compete against each other.

The time had come for the Monster Course to begin and the students were pumped and ready, the two teams became one and worked together to get through the course not only once but twice! The team carried 17 tires on the first lap after being told to carry 10 and on the second lap they learned from their mistakes (key 3), they completed the second lap faster than the first by more than 12 minutes! As a reward/surprise to the student the Drop Slide was opened for them to have a go, they all had two go’s each and then proceeded to their showers to wash off.

Day three and it’s the last day, we started the day by talking about the power of gratitude and the different forms it can take (written, verbal, acts of service), we then watched a video called ‘Give and Get a Compliment’ by Soul Pancake. Students were then asked to write a letter to someone they care about and share what they’re grateful for. The last two games that were played were YE-HA and Pirates, all ready to go they smashed out their two last rotations of Scavenger Hunt and Tash's Ladder.

On behalf of The Summit crew, we want to say thank you once again for playing all in and having all the fun with us, we wish you all the best with school and future endeavors.

Steph/Spinks, Marcus, Lina