LEAD on Year 7 Camps

Year 7 Camp 1

On Tuesday 13 February, our group of seven LEAD students went down to Golden Valley Lodge to run some activities with four of the Year 7 classes on camp.  We arrived at the camp at 10 am and began preparing for our activities that took place at 11 – 12:30 pm.  But before we began the activities, we helped prepare and serve morning tea to the students.  We spent this time introducing ourselves and getting to know the kids so that they were comfortable with us.  Once the students were ready we brought them all together and explained the day ahead.  We ran a short activity with them all to get them into their three groups of 34 for the activities we had planned.  From here we separated into our groups and took them to their first activity.  One of the activities was Number Soccer and it was run by Kasey, Lisa and Luca.

The other two activities were Dodgeball run by Matt and Ollie, and Gaga Ball with Ella and Hannah.   In Number Soccer, Lisa ran a short warm up and after that we began explaining and running the activity, which was a great success.  The kids all got involved and looked like they had a lot of fun, motivated by the prizes we had on offer.  We furthered our leadership qualities by communicating with the Year 7s, organising and encouraging them to participate and give it their all.  This activity was a lot of fun to not only watch, but to manage, and we hope that they took something out of the experience.

Ella and Hannah had the pleasure of running a game of Gaga with the Year 7s.  It was fun to get involved with all the kids and it was great to see them working together as a team.  As well as this it was a unique learning experience for us and we were able to build our leadership skills and confidence all whilst having fun.  At the beginning of the rotation we both felt a little nervous but before long we got the hang of public speaking and controlling the groups.  By the time we got to the third rotation we knew all about what we were doing, and this let us become more involved with the game.  Dodgeball, in the boys’ eyes, was a success; they were involved with the kids and gave off a positive and engaging vibe to all the Year 7s.  We believe that during the first rotation group we were a little nervous and worried about what the kids were going to be like with us.  But as the rotations went on and the activities rolled on we got more comfortable and friendly with classes.  As a group, we were able to control the Year 7s in a positive and friendly manner, without them feeling upset or excluded.  We hope that the Year 7s enjoyed the activity as much as we did.

Overall, our experience at the camp helped us to further our leadership knowledge and qualities. After spending time with the kids, we learnt more about their feelings towards high school and we gave them knowledge and guidance for their future at Frankston High School. We had a lot of fun playing and running the three activities with them, as this was a great opportunity for us to step up and lead by example while also sharing a lot of fun and laughs with the younger students.  The whole LEAD group had an excellent time visiting the camp and we were very happy that we had the opportunity to take part in the experience.

Written by:

Luca Agius, Kasey Stuart, Lisa Smith, Ella Code, Hannah Chia, Oliver Garret and Matt Gilbert.  

Year 7 Camp 2

On 15 February, seven Year 9 students from the LEAD class visited the Year 7s at their camp and ran some activities with them.  There was a lot of planning involved to organise a day like this, and a lot of preparation took place.  This all happened during our classes, where we worked in our groups, brainstorming ideas and organising equipment.  When we arrived at camp, we found that the Year 7s were around 90 minutes behind schedule; as well, the weather was cold, rainy and windy, not ideal for the outdoor games we had organised.  Our group had to completely rearrange our whole schedule and find new areas to run our games.  Before we could start our activities, we needed to help the Year 7s finish their activities, e.g. giant swing, flying fox, etc.  

This was an awesome way to talk to and get to know the Year 7s, before we were running games for them.  After they completed their rotations, it was our turn to finally run the activities that we had put so much planning into.  We had four games: The Name Game, Fruit Salad, Ninja and Ship, Shark, Shore.  There were around 75 kids, eager to have fun, and I think all of the LEAD students can agree that they did. It was such a fun day, and even though we had to be very adaptable because all of the obstacles that came our way, it all worked out fairly smoothly in the end.

Writen by:

Tess, Amelie, Daniel, Lachie, Aaron,

Lucy and Michaela