Year 7 Camp

By Adam Messenger

(Head of Middle School)

Five days at Camp Coolamatong. Five days away from school work. Five days away from family, television, WiFi.

Having the Year 7 camp so close to the start of the year is a great idea. With 45 out of the 82 students being new to BHCS, it is vital to begin making new connections as soon as possible.

From a drizzly start to the week to perfect weather for the rest of the time, each day was filled with activities, teamwork and fun. Students participated in camp cooking, tubing behind a speedboat, archery, raft building, initiative activities and an adventure race. A highlight was the boat trip with a walk to the beach for an exciting game of Foxholes.  

The staff at Coolamatong had a session each morning to speak to the students, encouraging them in their uniqueness - each being a vital member of the group, being blessed with their own combination of personality and talents. It was great to see the camp staff come alongside the students - amazing role models that took the time to build them up and get involved with them in each activity.

Of course, our trusty Middle School mascot Stumpy the horse came along with us. He ended up getting a bit wet in the lake, had some green cordial spilled on him, and even enjoyed being target practice for Mr White armed with a bow and arrow! 

The theme for the camp was "Circus", and the students had a night of dressing up - there were clowns, mimes, acrobats, dancers, even a misfortunate lion tamer (great costume Mr Scampton!)

Messy games on Thursday will be a night that will go down in history - a tonne of fun was had by all, led by the master of camps - our beloved chaplain Nick. 

The students were fantastic all week, and we had numerous positive comments from the camp staff regarding the behaviour and engagement of our students. Well done parents! They are a credit to you!

Many thanks to the teachers and learning assistants for giving up a week away from home to input into the children's lives - it's a real labour of love! 

Student Reflections

On Monday, February 20, the AWESOME Year 7 students went on a five day camp to Camp Coolamatong in Bairnsdale. We were welcomed by friendly, happy and cheerful staff who became quite close to us over the period of time we stayed. Some of the activities were terrific - tubing, awesome archery, amazing adventure race, enjoyable canoeing, exciting boat trip, fun bushcraft and fantastic raft building. The night programs were full of laughter, joy and fun and it was so good that almost everyone was getting involved, being enthusiastic, giving things a go and just all round having a great time. I think everyone came home from camp with 10x more friends that they had before! I'm sure we all wished camp never ended and we can go back there again. Best camp ever!

Ava G (7LN)

My favourite thing  on camp was tubing because you are attached to a boat and you are on a donut. The thing I love about it is you go so fast and sometimes you get air and you can fall off sometimes.

Mitch B (7TD)

At first I was really not sure about going to camp, leaving my family, pets and comfort of my own home for a week seemed a big thing. Looking back, I don't know why I was so nervous, there was nothing to fear! Camp was awesome, all the staff were so caring and were always there to help. Like (almost) everyone, tubing was my favourite activity; the wind through your hair and water splashing in your face made it so exciting. All of the activities connected back to the theme, teamwork and uniqueness. From that we learnt some really good life lessons, and that God doesn't view us different or worse for the way we look, or how popular we are. Camp was a great time to merge with other people, and all of us made a new friend. Camp was amazing and I would definitely do it again any time.

Kianna V (7GB)

Camp has always been tough for me, and especially this year with all the new people and staff around me. After the first day, I didn't think I could stay. But then something clicked, I turned negative thoughts to positive and realised if I took in all the amazing things we did and stopped focusing on the 'what ifs'. So camp ended up being an amazing learning curve and made me a more positive person. My greatest memory was tubing - I had a load of fun and it was a huge adrenaline rush that was some crazy fun!! 

Geordie D (7TD)

My favourite activities were tubing, archery and canoeing. When you go to camp you will have nothing to worry about - it’s fun, exciting and exhausting. Year 7s - enjoy camp because it will only happen once.  

Josh N (7TD)

Camp was amazing! There were a lot of awesome activities to do there. My favourite activity was tubing because the boat went so fast - I got flipped off my tube. I loved the boat trip, because we played Fox Holes on the beach, and after that, we got to jump off the jetty. Another one of my favourite activities was the Colour Run. We played Human Tunnel Ball, which instead of using a ball, you use someone in your line to slide through the legs of your team, on a slip and slide mat.  We played more water games, and then we played a game where you had a packet of coloured powder, and you threw some of the powder at each other, to get colour stains on your T-Shirt while protecting someone called the 'Golden Child' and keeping them as clean as possible. My whole T-Shirt was full of coloured powder, and it looked amazing. Every Meal was amazing and I wish I could take the chefs home with me and make them cook all my meals. The leaders were awesome and fun, and they joined in with all of the activities which made the activities even more enjoyable. The camp was an awesome place to get along with some of the other kids and make friends with them. 

Deakin M (7LN)