Year 8 thrive at their Bushcraft Residential

What better way to de-stress following a week of exams than to go and spend 3 days in a forest in the middle of nowhere.  As a start to their Leavers’ programme, Year 8 did just that.

After having met their Camp Leader Tom, the children were split into tribes and given a tour of the camp – bell tents and a yurt that would be ‘home’ for the next few days.

An array of exciting activities had been organised; shelter building, camp craft, wood carving, camouflage and concealment training, fire building and cooking meals over open fires.

There was an injection of realism and Drama added to the first aid skills training.  With the help of a real plane, fake blood and smoke bombs, an SOS plane crash scenario with two casualties was recreated.   Year 8 rose to the challenge and put their skills into practise.

During the camp, the children had the opportunity to play ‘wide games’ – running/camouflage in a wide space.  They also developped their team skills and leadership qualities and generally got the change to be children in a huge forest. Everyone got stuck into all of the activities.

The food was outstanding and consisted of huge home cooked meals.  Even the brownies and lemon drizzle cake had been cooked using the open fire.

One of the accompanying teachers said “The three days went very quickly…the nights were quiet and the days filled with physical and mental challenges. The children very quickly accepted life without technology – no phones, iPads, Xboxes – simply getting back to the basics of the outdoors.  All of the Year 8s would agree that it was a great experience that will stay with them for a long time”.