On Thursday 10th June, eight Year 13 Student Leaders, accompanied by Mrs Lynch, travelled to Christchurch for an overnight trip designed to give students practical tools and fresh ideas to make a significant difference to the Greymouth High School community in 2021.

On arrival to Christchurch, students got to test their limits and conquer their fears at Adrenalin Forest’s multi-​level aerial obstacle course with over 100 challenges up to 26 metres in the air. Adrenalin Forest was a great confidence builder and provided students with an adrenaline rush.

After a quick dinner at Little High Eatery students were tasked with an escape room at CodeBreaks. The Escape Room was a physical adventure game where students were placed in a room and used teamwork to find clues, solve puzzles, crack codes, and complete the mission before time runs out. This was a unique, thrilling and immersive experience for students.

On Friday 11th June, students attended the ‘GRIP Student Leadership Conference,’ a practical, hands-on and interactive leadership training day that equipped students with a deeper understanding of how they can fulfill their role as leaders.

Thank you to Development West Coast Education Support for funding Greymouth High School Students to attend the GRIP Student Leadership Conference. Here are some reflections students have written about their trip:

I really enjoyed our Student Leadership Trip to Christcurch last week. It was an awesome opportunity to grow as a team, with the Art Heist Escape Room being the perfect activity to practise our communication skills. I am really thankful for Greymouth High School and Development West Coast for the chance to go. Cheers! - Mishka Lombaard

I enjoyed the all round experience of the trip because we as a Leadership cohort bonded and became more of a team. Some of the skills we learnt on this trip were how to lead our school, fellow students and to help leave a positive mark at Greymouth High School. - Samantha Friend

The Student Leadership Trip to Christchurch was awesome! Despite my fear of heights my favourite part would be Adrenalin Forest as I was laughing most of the time… totally didn’t stop at the top of a tree and cry… but overall I definitely learned a thing or two and had heaps of fun along the way.

- Poppy-Blu Reyland

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have gone on the trip and all the learning that came with it. Overall, my main takeaway from the conference and the trip as a whole is that while it is important to take up your time to lead, it's also equally important to have fun and enjoy the opportunity as it comes.

- Jack Stead-Wilson

Last week some of the Student Leaders had the opportunity to travel to Christchurch to attend the GRIP Leadership Conference. I was lucky enough to be one of the eight students who went, and what a trip it was! The Conference taught me a lot about the interpersonal skills that can be utilised, when working together to achieve a common goal for other students. My favourite part of the trip would have to be the CodeBreakers Escape Room - ‘Art Heist’ which challenged our problem solving and communication skills, and forced us to work together to escape the ‘Art Gallery’!- Allie Vaughan

Attending the GRIP Leadership Conference has helped build not only my skills but also the rest of the Student Leaders ability to lead, that we shall take forward with us throughout 2021. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to attend this conference, as this experience will help set us up for a great rest of the year hopefully bringing new and exciting ways of leading to Greymouth High school. - Alyssa Blacktopp

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to attend our yearly Student Leadership trip to Christchurch. On the trip, we did various teamwork activities like an Escape Room, high ropes course, and attended the GRIP Student Leadership Conference. The conference was a very intriguing and inspiring day filled with cool experiences and people from different schools. It was a real eye-opener to see what other schools are doing and how we can apply that back at Greymouth High School. Overall, it was such a cool trip and I would differently recommend going if you have the chance. I feel it brought our team of student leaders together and I'm excited for what the future holds. - Clark Fountain

Late last week I was given a great opportunity, along with the rest of the Student Leadership team to travel to Christchurch for a Leadership Conference. The conference was a great experience, and we all learnt a lot from the wonderful speakers and we are looking forward to implementing our new knowledge within the school! Another highlight was adrenaline forest and the Escape Room, which although challenging at times, provided heaps of fun. - Ella Rae-Wood