This year the Year 8 end of year camp was held at Glentui Meadows near Oxford from Tuesday 1 to Friday 4 December 2020.

Traditionally the Year 8 students see out the end of their time at Oaklands with a week long camp in Wellington. Due to a long list of contributing factors, a Wellington Camp was not a possibility this year. 

Once the initial and understandable disappointment was out of the way we set to organising an alternative camp.  Glentui Meadows was very accomodating at short notice and in the end a fantastic camp was had by all. 

Over the four days the students participated in river safety, bivouac building, archery tag, abseiling, orienteering and bubble soccer. It was great to see so many people stepping outside of their comfort zones and giving things a go. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs and a lot of memories were made. 

Another camp highlight was the trek to the top of nearby Mount Richardson. At 1048m above sea level, reaching the summit of this 'Mighty Beast' was no easy feat but everyone dug deep and made it to the top and back. The hours of physical effort were all worth it when we returned to a dinner of butter chicken! I'm pretty sure everyone had seconds! 

The swimming pool at the camp was well received by everyone and many hours were spent cooling down after our busy days of activities. 

As always we appreciate the efforts and time of the parent helpers that came along on camp. We simply could not do what we do without them. Our thanks go to Nigel, Grant, Rebecca, Michelle, Susan, Kirsten, Larissa and Nicky for generously volunteering your time to help out. 

A big shout out to Mr Brown for all of his hard work to get this alternative camp up and running. Top work Mr Brown!

Another shout out to Mr Sy who jumped in boots and all to his first ever school camp. Ka rawe Mr Sy!

Finally it's time to hear what the students thought. Read their reflections below. 

Thomas: I think camp was super fun because everyone was nice and chilled and also the instructors and owner were super nice. I liked hiking up Mt Richardson and bubble soccer/sumo.

Harrison: Camp was super fun. My favourite part was  jumping off the 6m waterfall or spotlight on the last night. 

Andre: One of my highlights was the food. Jumping off the waterfall was really fun and I would definitely do it again.

Jennifer: One of my highlights from camp was running/going down Mt Richardson with Zoe and Rose B. It was so fun even though I tumbled and rolled down a meter, I felt so free, it was such a vibe. The nature around it made it even better. As well as that, also running through streams to clean our shoes was so refreshing and fun. Especially when I got to do this with some of the best people at camp, it was truly amazing.

Ben: My highlight was just the whole vibe. It felt so nice that nobody was fighting and we were all friends and played some fun games together. The food was also quite good and I couldn’t have really asked for any better food.

Amber: One of my highlights of camp is definitely the food at camp because if was so good. My favourite meal was chicken burgers. 

Zoe: One of my highlights of camp was going down Mount Richardson because we went to run down with Jennifer and Rose B and it was really funny when you fell over. I loved when Rose B’s drink bottle fell off the ledge of the trail and I had to go and get it for her and it was so funny.

Ethan: One of my highlights on camp was jumping off the water fall.

Jun: Something that was my favourite thing is Archery Tag because I like archery a lot more than the other activity.

Missy: Something I liked at camp was bivvy building because it was fun competing for all the materials. Although It could have been better for some reasons like not being able to fix the bivvy because we apparently needed a washing line. The food at camp was AMAZING, one night I had like 7 potatoes; they were so good. We also had double ice cream. I also liked jumping off the big rock.

Moses: something I enjoyed at camp was making lots of new connections with people that I didn’t know as much as I liked to. I liked all the fun outdoors stuff that I’ve never tried before like Abseiling, Bubble Soccer, and River Safety.

 Rose B: One of my favourite highlights from camp was all of the activities especially bubble soccer because it was a different type of activity that I hadn't tried before. Another activity I really enjoyed was going down Mount Richardson, even though going up wasn't that fun. I also loved the food. All of the meals were delicious and I got seconds for all of them. Overall it was one of the best camps i've ever been on.

Rose I: My favourite highlight from camp was jumping off the big rock even though I was really nervous it was still really fun and I'm glad I did it in the end. I also liked it when we went down to the domain to have ice-cream and just hang out with my friends. So overall I really enjoyed the entire camp and it was such a great time/experience. 

Carter W: My favourite thing about camp was everything but especially jumping off the waterfall and also bubble soccer because I liked that we had never done an activity like that at camp before. I also liked the walk up and down Mt Richardson because I was with my friends and it was quite challenging. The foods were really good too and I liked all the activities. Overall the camp was really fun.

Harley: My favourite thing about camp was jumping off of the 6m high waterfall. I really enjoyed all of the activities that they gave us to do there. I had a lot of fun at bubble soccer because I versed Jex and bowled him over then Lincoln came in and bowled me. Me and my mum had a good go at each other on every activity. Archery tag was really fun because I got to shoot lots of people and I shot Grant in the tummy and Carter W in the groin.

Julie: My favourite thing about camp was River Safety because it was cool walking through the water and seeing people jump off the Waterfall. I also really enjoyed the view at the top of Mt Richardson and around the camp. Something that was hard was the Archery tag because the game was kinda confusing and I didn't like being shot. I enjoyed the food too because it was my first time trying some of it like the mousse. It was really hard to sleep at night since everyone was talking in my bunk room but overall it was a great camp. If I were to go again I would change my shoes before I climb up Mt Richardson.

Iris: My favourite thing about camp was Archery Tag, going to Oxford and the food. I enjoyed doing Archery Tag the most because it was fun playing with bow and arrows trying to tag people. It’s fun when we went down to Oxford because we got to play in the playground and have double ice creams. Also, I loved the food and the desserts at camp. They were so good! They were delicious. The best camp meals I’ve ever had.

Dishti: My favourite thing about camp was archery tag and spotlight and going to Oxford park and taking pictures. I got hit in archery tag a couple of times but it was really fun. Then we went to Oxford park and had our second ice-cream and took so many pictures on Iris’s phone and when we got back we we got to play spotlight and I was so close to the bottle. 

Lincoln: My favourite part was when I jumped off the waterfall.

Danni: My highlight of camp was making heaps of memories with my friends and classmates. My favourite activity was bubble soccer because it was fun knocking Kyra over on her head. My low point of camp was when I vomited and couldn't go to the domain but I had fun with Ethan and Julie when we watched Police 10/7 and watched Mr. Brown rev his engine. Me and Ethan call him Grandpa Brown

Morgan: My favourite activity on camp was jumping off the waterfall and watching other people when they hit the water get really cold. I really enjoyed Mt Richardson because I was the first girl to the top and I got to have a really nice walk with Mr Brown. It was also really fun getting muddy and talking to Kaitlyn on the phone telling her we were almost at the top.  The food was really good too. The only thing I would change is the stairs because we got really sick of them by the end of camp.

Riley: My favourite activity was river safety because we got to jump off a waterfall and that was fun.

Kyra: My favourite part on camp was Water Safety. 

Kaitlyn: My favourite thing about camp was water safety because we got to go and jump off the waterfall and we got to watch some people jump off it first. 

Ashley: The best thing that I did on camp was the waterfall jump because it was really fun and because I had never done anything like it before, so I was really excited to do something new for the first time.  I would like to thank the teachers for all of their hard work at camp.

Carter B: The best thing that I did on camp was the waterfell because it was really fun as we got to jump off a big and small one. I really enjoyed the bubble soccer because we got to bowl people over. Archery tag was awesome because we got to shoot people and we got to play lots of different activities to do with archery.

Latisha: The best thing that I enjoyed was jumping off the waterfall and walking up Mt Richardson,  only because it got me working and it made me think a lot.

 Issy: My favourite thing I did at camp was jumping off the waterfall because it was so fun. Another thing that was my favourite was walking up Mt. Richardson.  I'm so surprised that I didn't get my white shoes that dirty. My favourite meal was the chicken burgers.

Chloe: The best thing that I did in camp was the waterfall jump because it was out of my comfort zone and I was trying something new and I got to make new connections with other people.

Chelsea: My favourite thing at camp was everything and it was really fun and bubble soccer was so much fun and the food was so good!  I enjoyed camp so much

Matthew: My favourite thing we did at camp was bubble soccer because it was a lot of fun to try and make my friends fall over. I also enjoyed playing archery tag because it was a lot of fun shooting my mum and my sister.