St Agnes Primary School Year 4 Camp Blog

On a warm and humid Wednesday afternoon, November 6th, 2024, the students, and teachers from St Agnes PS came through The Summit gates, straight to into their accommodation. They then went to the Lodge to meet their coach, Sonic. After watching the welcome promo video, they were asked what they wanted to get out of the camp and why they were there. Sonic then shared the Five Keys of camp with the group. These keys are:

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” 

   
   

We then played a game called "Look up to look down." The winner of which was Faye, who went to the other corner of the room. Sonic explained a goal-setting strategy called Target, Stretch, and Super Stretch and how using this tool will help them break activities down into three manageable steps:

Step 1: Target, something they know they can do.

Step 2: Stretch, something they think they can do.

Step 3: Super Stretch, something they believe is impossible, but after achieving the 1st and 2nd, it is possible.

 Making our way down to the stage we showed them the surroundings of the camp and free time activities we then played an initiative called 'Where is George' which the group got progressively better at as they completed every attempt to rescue George as fast as 15 seconds. Moving on to our first activity called Tash’s Ladder we took the kids off the ground and up a tower that consisted of four levels and a ladder that is 14 steps long, stretching into the air. Many felt uncomfortable, however, everyone put a harness and helmet on and gave it the best go, playing all in. Whether it was one level or 2 steps, or the top of Tash's, everyone gave it their best, Leo and Lucas did well at this activity as did Estelle.

After grabbing something to eat for afternoon tea we made our way over to the Snowy River Challenge which is a timed team activity. They had to go over a balance beam, go over a wall to make their way across the wobbly wire bridge and swing across from the log onto the final safe spot. It took the team 21 minutes and 41 seconds to complete the challenge (they did a wombat hole challenge that won them 5 minutes off their total time!). Once the last activity was done they created their tribe name: St Sigma and they were told about the free time areas, dinner and breakfast schedule, the duty groups and of course GMICs which stands for 'Great Moments in Camp', this is The Summit's way of giving and getting compliments in the form of writing notes for each other at meals and reading them out to acknowledge all the great camp moments.  On the morning of day two and three there were so many GMICs in the box! To cap off day 1, the kids were treated to a movie and a night walk.

On day two, after breakfast, Sonic took them through a session on intentions, expressing the importance of setting an intention (goal) and things to say more often.  We watched a video by the Kid President called '20 Things We Should Say More Often.' and then focused and wrote up a contract on the whiteboard about all the things that they want to see more often that day. After we all signed our names to make it official, we checked back in on the list at lunchtime to see how much we'd done or how well we followed the contract. We then played a game called Crane, Tiger, Egg, the winner was Ivy.

Heading down to the stage where we played another game called Shoe Bowling, the aim was to throw a shoe at a pin that was upright and to knock it over while being seated and a lot of people got a few consecutive wins. It was time for our first activity, and it was up to the Flying Fox, there were many targets, stretches and even a super stretch by Leo done during this first activity. Next is the Scavenger Hunt where we went through different challenges. but first, we had to get into costumes, everyone looked great. We collected over 170 points, and I got a few funny photos to follow.  Next is the Cave, using their hands and feet only to guide them as they make their way through the darkness to a room where they would sit, ponder, and reflect. Uncomfortable at first but everyone ended up going through it, Eddie C did well in this activity as did Will.

After lunch of delicious hamburgers, we washed up and got everyone changed and ready for the Monster Course! Just before that, we had the inflatable City to tackle where we played Call. Almost ready for the epic Monster Course we made our way down to the stage to have some afternoon tea and a surprise game of water balloon catching. Big shout out to the pair of Lucas and Will who survive all four levels!!

Then it was time for the much-awaited Monster Course. The group got together having to be linked up with 1 car tyre as a commitment to their team. The first lap took 34 minutes and 22 seconds, we then told him that it wasn't over and that they were going to run the course again but this time setting a target-restricted stretch to help them get the most out of this second lap. Everyone decided that the target would be 30 minutes, a stretch would be 25 minutes, and the super stretch would be 18 minutes. The second lap was completed in 14 minutes which surpassed their super stretch by a whole 4 minutes!! Well done unleashing your greatness as a team. Rinsing off in the lake and the outdoor showers they moved up to their accommodation to have actual showers and some free time before dinner followed by a campfire.

Day 3 and it was the last day, there were a few tired faces in the room, but it was time for the last session in the Lodge with Sonic reading a whole bunch of GMICs that had been written. We then discussed the value of gratitude and how we can use it to better our everyday lives, especially when we are not feeling too good. Sonic took them through a visualization where they all closed their eyes and pictured 3 channels on a remote that was connected to you and the TV. The three channels were labelled family, pets, and friends, going through these channels 1 by 1 asking them to think about those categories and who shows up on the screen and focusing on how it made them feel. There was a little bit of joy again that was generated in the room, and we had a few to share who and what they are grateful for. We then played a game called Jockeys and Allison and Ivy emerged as winners!

It was then time to make our way to the Giant Swing, where everyone gave it their best go, either pulling the people up on the haul rope or swinging through the air with a partner all students gave it their best.  Achieving yellow and green levels and genuinely being the teammate, they wanted on their team, showing up for each other. Our last activity Laser Skirmish, where team blue and team red team went head-to-head, both choosing different strategies as one team was all about running around and covering as much ground as possible and the other were getting themselves positioned and being deliberate with their shots. After having all the fun, we sat down for a final camp debrief.

Sonic shared a tool that will help students debrief their camp experience at home, this is called Rock, Stick, Leaf and Heart. The rock is something that rocked their world about camp, the stick is something that will stick with them forever like a memory, the leaf is something that we leave behind and the heart is something that they're the proudest of themselves for doing over the past 72 hours on camp. After everyone had shared one of these four things we headed to the stage for some lunch, we gave them some free time, after gathering everyone together for a final wrap-up. In a final talk, we voted for two individuals in our team that we felt deserved the title of hero and heart of the group. The hero of the group is the most resilient and has a very WE mentality over the ME mentality, showing leadership. The heart of the group, showing care and compassion, makes people feel welcomed and included. The Hero was Will and the Heart was Lucas. As they made their way towards the buses, Sonic gathered a whole bunch of high fives.

On behalf of myself and The Summit we would once again like to say thank you for coming and playing all in, all the best for the rest of the year.

Sonic/Steph