Year 7 Camp

Year 7 camp was held from Wednesday 5th March to Friday 7th March at Lake Dewar Lodge in the bushland above the beautiful Werribee Gorge. The quiet grounds of the campsite were soon shattered as we arrived with 185 students and staff, with students full of energy and excitement and super eager to discover the sleeping arrangements and their first outdoor activity.

Students slept in various sized cabins, with some cabins holding 10 students and others holding 5, and some rooms offered their own ensuite.The students couldn’t wait to get to their cabins and settle in for the next couple of days. After eating a packed snack/lunch, and exploring the grounds and various play equipment - the students were energised and super keen for their first group activity. Each group completed 10 activities over the 3 days - with all groups completing each activity in their school form group.

Activities included canoeing and kayaking (with options for jetty jumping), hiking through the Werribee gorge and for the thrill seekers, there was the flying fox that flew the students through the middle of the gorge (approximately 25 meters off the ground and 280 meters long). Archery, adventure tunneling, geocaching and raft building had students putting their heads together and working out solutions to various problems, while also potentially ending up in the lake again.

Our students worked wonderfully well as classes, with a camp-long competition running based around participation, helping others and teamwork. Groups also had nightly competitions, including a group hand-shake comp and a lip-synching comp to a song of their choice. Hats off to 7A for their heart-wrenching rendition of “Do you want to build a Snowman” from the “Frozen” movie. 

As always the Year 7 Camp was a huge success. It was loud, chaotic and fun and just an amazing way for all the teachers and students to get to know each other. We hope all the students had a great time and that all families enjoyed a quiet 2 nights at home. Thanks to everyone who helped put the camp together and ensured that it ran smoothly.

Pieter Oosterloo, Georgia Stavrakis and Claudia Giarrusso

Year 7 Team