Year 7 have had an exciting start to life in the Senior School, with the highlight of the first few weeks being the Year 7 camp, held at Camp Wombaroo, which is just over 15km west of Mittagong. The focus of the camp was “community”, with all of the activities, reflections and devotions centred around the idea of building a strong community within the Year 7 cohort, with students learning the importance of their dependence on one another.
After the first two days of activities which featured “The Giant Swing”, raft building, orienteering, initiative games and “The Giant Egg Drop”, the students ventured out into the wilderness, learning the vital Outdoor Education skills of packing a hiking bag, setting up a tent, camp cooking and how to set-up a group campsite.
The week culminated in a 15km hike up Mt Jelore. It was an arduous hike, that required each group to work together as a team, supporting one another by helping to carry all of the packs, water and food, and providing plenty of encouraging words. There were lots of fun games played along the way as well! After every Year 7 student reached the pinnacle of Mt Jelore, climbing over 350m to reach the peak (which has an elevation of about 850m), there was a real sense of accomplishment amongst the group as they took in the beautiful views north towards the Blue Mountains and the Sydney CBD.
The students left camp the next day having formed a strong bond as a cohort, recognising that they can achieve great things when they work together as a team.
The Year 7 camp was also a great way to kick off our Peer Support Programme. Twelve Year 10 students attended the camp as peer support leaders. Their role is to assist and support the Year 7 students in any way they can. The camp provides a great opportunity for the leaders and the students to connect and build rapport. The Leaders were exceptional in how they conducted themselves and the role models they became over the course of the week. Over the remaining weeks of Term I, the peer support leaders will build on the camp experiences and the connections they have made, and they will deliver a programme that they have written. I am proud of them and the way they upheld their responsibilities as leaders of our school.
A big thank you to our wonderful Mentor teachers: Mr Keating, Ms Crombie, Mrs Baird and Mrs Lowe; as well as Mrs Lo Surdo and Mr Edgerton for giving up time with their families to help our Year 7’s get the most out of the week. A special thanks also goes to our amazing Year 10 Peer Support Leaders, who demonstrated outstanding leadership skills throughout the week and were excellent role models for our Year 7 students.
By Mr Adrian Deck