Year 6 Camp

Two of our Y6 Sports Leaders who attended their residential camp, wanted to share some of their experiences.

Grace wrote: Year Six went to Bowles for three days and we got to experience many different activities.

Day 1: 

We did low ropes and zip-wire which was exciting and fun! Some people were a little bit scared at first, but they pushed themselves to go down the high zip-wire. The zip-wire, which was very fast, was a thrilling experience.  

Before we were allowed to go on the zip-wire or low ropes course we had to put on safety equipment and then be checked by our instructor. We had to climb up a tall tree using big metal staples that have been banged into the tree trunk to get to the top of the zip-wire. At the top, our instructor clipped us onto the zip-wire. 

The low ropes were several different obstacles, one of the challenges was to travel across a strong piece of wire tied between two trees and a loose piece of rope above the wire to hold on with our hands.

Swimming:

We went swimming in free time for 45 minutes. We were allowed to play on the floats and play with the floating net balls. It was fantastic, we all had a great time.

Day 2:

We did rock climbing, abseiling, orienteering and skiing on the second day.

Before we started rock climbing we had to put the safety equipment on again. We took it in turns to climb up the rock faces. When we reached the top we had to go under or over a small fence, shout down to our instructor our name and “SAFE”. Then our instructor gave us a thumbs up so that we could unclip ourselves from the rope. Once we had done that we had to shout our name and “CLEAR” so that the people that were belaying us could pull down the rope for the next person. We had to walk down fifty steps to get back to our group at the bottom. When we did abseiling we kept the safety equipment on that we used for the climbing.

I was the first person to abseil down the rock face it was awesome. When we did abseiling we used two ropes one to abseil on and one for safety. 

Orienteering

We got into pairs and got given a map and stamp card, there were lots of different places on the map that we had to go to and collect a different stamp from each one. My partner Erin and I nearly filled in all of the stamps, we might have finished if we had some more time.

Before we did skiing I was extremely excited. Once we had got our skis we were told important information so that we stayed safe. Some people were already good at skiing, and in the session they got to go to the top of the main ski slope. All of the people in our group got to go on the ski lift. I went really fast down the slope, it was incredibly fun!   

Day 3:

In archery we did this three round game. On the target there are five different coloured rings. As a group we decided on which colour should be each place in the world that we would like to stay. For example, in the first round, the white on the target was Scotland, black was Paris, and going in, the places getting better, going through blue then red then gold, gold being the best. 

Pool rafting

We got split into two teams and we were given plastic barrels, rope and some wood which we used to make into a raft. We wore a helmet and life jacket for safety. Then we had a race to see who could build their raft and travel across the pool first. 

Group Activities

This was a series of challenges in the woods. I was surprised that I was able to work out how to do the challenges quite easily. For instance we had to use planks of wood with string on both ends to carefully move between small islands to get to the other side and I quickly figured out how we could do it.

We had a great time at Bowles and learned a lot about working as a team and pushing ourselves to try new things.

Adam wrote: Orienteering - in pairs, we had to find our way around the Bowles site looking for 17 points. We had a map that showed where the 17 points were and we used focal points to locate these 17 points. Once we found all 17 points, we could then venture in to the woods for further points. Eli and I found all 17 points and then an extra 10 points in the woods.

Skiing - Firstly, we had to ensure that we had the correct ski boot size and skis based on our weight. We then learnt how to walk in skis and climb up the slope. Our instructor then checked how good we were and sent the better skiers to the lift. We worked our way to the top of the slope by skiing at different levels. Each time we completed a level, we could ski higher up the slope - three of us made it to the top of the slope.

Abseiling - we got to abseil down a 10 metre rock face. Attached to a harness and two ropes, you have to lean backwards over the edge and then start to walk down the rock face. When you first lean backwards, it was an exciting feeling.

Rock climbing - we got to climb on real rocks! Firstly, we did bouldering, which is climbing without a harness. This helps you learn how to climb by putting your hands and feet into cracks between rocks. In bouldering you do not go that high.

We then put on a harness and started to climb. There was a rope from the top of the cliff to the bottom which I was attached to. I had friends at the bottom of the cliff holding the rope, giving support. The rock climbing was exciting, but I wasn't scared.

Swimming - in the pool, we had 30 minutes to build a raft. Then we raced them, and our team won! After that, we did a swimming race and our team lost by one second. Then we got a "free swim" and I just did lengths.

Archery - we all got to practice with four shots,, trying to hit a target 5 metres away. We then played a game where the better the shot, the better place you got to go to first. Then we had four shot to decide how we got there. After that, we got our last four shots to see where we were staying. I got to "go to Greece" and I "crawled there" and stayed in "a mansion"!

Table tennis - in free time, we played a bit of table tennis. The ball broke though, so we couldn't play!

Football - also, in free time, we played a bit of football. We played a different school, but it got a bit out of hand so we played by ourselves.

Low ropes - in low ropes we had so much fun. We went in partners. I went with Mackenzie. My favourite bit was the zip wire.