On a cold December Monday morning, 74 eager Year 7’s and their Form Tutors set out for two days of outdoor adventure at Lea Green. The students took part in three main activities – Buggies, Low Ropes and Obstacles and the extremely cold ‘Stream Walk’. On arriving at Lea Green, there was no time to spare as the students were out and about orienteering around the site, before having their packed lunch and getting ready for their first main activity. These activities were designed to develop the skills of teamwork and cooperation and every student committed themselves fully to the experience.
After a busy day of activities they all tucked into a lovely hot meal, sitting and sharing time communally in the dining room before the evening activity of Smuggler’s Run, where they worked in teams to smuggle as much ‘rum’ as they could to their base camp without being ambushed by the ‘police’ AKA teachers in hiding! After this, a warm hot chocolate awaited before retreating to bed for the night. All bedrooms managed to get some sleep and so did the grateful staff, before the bell rang for breakfast and the start of day two!
After completing the remaining activities we met in the sports hall for team games. Cooperation and coordination were key here if you wanted to get the large earth ball from one end of your row to the next. The mat surfing relay ended our time at Lea Green. I am so proud of the students as every one of them gave 100% to the adventure. They all came away happy, tired but knowing that they had completed something new and pushed themselves out of their comfort zone!
