In February this year, 250 brand new year 9 students were bused off to Waipara Boy’s Brigade for their camp. It was a fun-packed week of Ako classes coming and going with eager girls starting to get to know one another.

The best part (for staff) was the big locked box containing all their devices - much to the girls horror! However, this gave the girls an opportunity to look up and around them, to interact and have conversations away from their screens! The Year 13 Peer support leaders were amazing at helping out and encouraging the girls to get to know each other and also to have a go on some of the more extreme activities.

“Starting a brand new school with a whole bunch of girls that you have never seen before is daunting, then being thrown into a class with not a single girl that you had even laid eyes on before is even more scary. So that is where year 9 camp comes in handy for the likes of me who knew no one in my class. We did a series of activities that involved communication and trust, such as rafting, a night walk, a giant swing, orienteering and many more, I went from having acquaintances to girls that I could now call friends and that was such a reassuring feeling. Year nine camps was fun and there was never a dull moment.” Bella Houghton-Smith (9LWT)