The Swimming Carnival and Camp

Swimming at Plenty Campus

By Erin Doman, Year 10, Plenty Campus

The Plenty House Swimming Carnival was a wonderful day filled with house spirit, competition and enthusiasm.

Splash Aquatic Park and Leisure Centre in Craigieburn was the perfect place to host the carnival as students could not only do races, but various other fun activities to collect house points. It was really great to see everyone getting involved especially the Year 7 students because it was their first year of doing the house swimming carnival.  Many students were able to play water games such as water polo, making it a day where everyone contributed and worked together in their Houses.

Personally, the highlight for me was the waterslides. Students who didn’t want to swim competitively could go on waterslides either by themselves or in pairs to earn points for their Houses. I went on the waterslides 5 times earning 5 points for my House, Sherwood. I really enjoyed going down the waterslides because there was a huge gust of water at the end and I got soaked! I also like how inside the slide it was dark enough to barely see your feet, with parts of light coming through from the top of the slide. I also participated in the backstroke swimming event. I was a little nervous because I don’t do a lot of competitive swimming, but I was excited to swim for my house. I chose to do backstroke because I find it enjoyable and it is my best swim stroke. I came 4th in the race but I was proud of myself and the other swimmers. My friends and I watched the water polo games during the day to support our House with overwhelming House spirit.

 It was fun and really great to see many students in our House (especially those in Year 7) getting involved in the games. 

Overall, the swimming carnival was a huge success and congratulations to Athlestane for winning this year’s title. Go Sherwood!

Swimming at The Ridgeway Campus

By Veronica Neri, Year 9, University Campus

The 2021 Swimming Carnival was the highlight of my year so far in year nine, a day with chanting, swimming and games there was something for everyone to take part in. Although Sherwood won this year it was a very close ending with all the houses. Many people enjoyed the day away from school, able to spend a day out in the sun with their friends. It was a fun day being able to compete with or against your friends in the novelty events. These events were the highlight of the day for me especially volleyball and water polo. I really enjoyed cheering on my teammates and participating in the house chants. I loved the idea of the International centre selling dumplings it was delicious and I hope to see that happen again in future events, it also wouldn’t be a swimming carnival without a sausage sizzle supplied by Foxy. I loved being together with The Ridgeway Campus again as I was able to see and talk to friends in other year levels, it was a great day to make friends within your House and show some House spirit. Another fun part of the day was cheering on my teammates competing in the House events, my particular favourite event was the staff and student novelty race where the Year 12 students pushed Mr Naude on a body board after our unicorn floatie deflated. It was a great way to end our last day of freedom as we headed into a five-day lockdown.

Year 7 Camp at The Ridgeway Campus

By Lachie Green, Year 7, The Ridgeway Campus

Year 7 Camp was fun, I enjoyed getting to know some new people and learning new things. One of my favourite activities was probably the orienteering activity because my friend and I won the competition and got a whole chocolate bar. I also enjoyed the canoeing because I fell in trying to give someone a high five in one of the team activities. The food was good when we were in the cabins, but the camping food was horrible. We had to have powdered milk and it was the worst. Another one of the fun activities was the high ropes course, getting to the top of the ladder climb was the best feeling because you worked so hard to get there. 

Overall, camp was a great experience and a good opportunity to learn some skills and make some new friends.

A COVID-19 Camp

By Ruby Grinter, Year 11, The Ridgeway Campus

A condensed version of the camp I’d been on five years prior; very hectic and strangely nostalgic. The cohort of 2026 was raring to go by the time I dragged myself to Chelsworth Park – obviously, the whole thing about having more energy the younger you are is true.

It was a bus-ride of talking as loud as possible to get through the mask while also trying to avoid letting half the bus hear what your favourite book is and where you want to go to uni. The lodge was just as I remembered it, minus the huge climbing wall I had to face in year seven – beautiful and always busy.

It was very odd being considered almost a staff member, being a Year 11 student … I kept marvelling at the fact I could use the coffee machine and sit with the Halls staff – who were lovely as ever. Before we even embarked on the high ropes course, I had an in-depth description of exactly what that entailed – as well as how much the kids seemed to like hurling themselves off the elements as the belayer tried to keep up.

My group stayed in the lodges the first night, much to their excitement… which you would have been able to hear as they went to brush their teeth. I was gifted the job of cameraman, and managed to catch some interesting faces as my group flew past on the flying fox, as well as some confused ones trying to build a fire. There wasn’t a whole lot of initial excitement at taking care of themselves camping out in the bush the second night, however, as soon as they read the detailed menu they were to prepare, I think the master-chef attitude took over.

It was truly great to be able to chat to the kids when they wanted help, or even just to get to know me. They were a wonderfully rambunctious bunch (Mr Lobo may have  of capsized canoes, these photos speak for themselves) and threw themselves into everything they could. Mountain biking, a brilliant Indigenous session, bushwalking, even taking down tents (with a little bit of grumbling) – in all honesty, they were better at the tent manoeuvring than I was. 

Everyone was as welcoming as they could have possibly been, which made guiding the Year 7 students  exponentially easier – whether it was what to do on solo or how to cut tomato. 

It was terribly nostalgic and an exhaustingly fun way to spend three days – I just hope next year’s Year 7 students get the 5-day version!! 

The Hills are Alive on Music Camp

By Patrick Suiter, Year 12, The Ridgeway Campus

For those of you that don’t know, Music Camp is a camp that takes place every year (well, besides 2020 of course) over the course of 3 days. This year it took place quite close to Daylesford. It mainly includes rehearsals with the main ensembles, high quality camp food, and spending great moments with friends. Even if it sounds like much of it would be spent inside, it is a lot of hard work, and quite exhausting, especially for the trumpet players!

 It certainly was a treasure to be able to participate in my first camp in two years, which is sadly my last camp at Ivanhoe. I got to play a flute solo from Titanic, I realised that I really shouldn’t be singing Tenor in choir anymore, and I had a stab at pieces ranging from a Cuban dance to the Avengers!

This year, as Music Captain here at The Ridgeway Campus along with Emilie McKenna (whom you all know), we had a lot more responsibility, putting together trivia for who gets the first meal, and also the activity in the evenings, where the musicians were asked to write a song parody based on a certain theme. We had ‘I Wanna Study with Somebody’, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Di, Life does not go on’ (in reference to lockdown), a version of the School song based around school uniform, and the winner, also a parody of Ob-La-Di, about the sights on the bus trip up to Daylesford. All in all, we thought that it turned out alright! 

Overall, Music Camp is always extremely useful for nailing down the repertoire for the rest of the year, and for me, it has been really special to be able to play music in a large group. I am extremely proud of the work we have done, and would like to thank all the music staff for their work in putting the camp together.