In preparation for Year10 camp all the Year 10 Physical Education students have been participating in practice walks in and around local tracks in Dunedin; such as the Pineapple Track, Ross Creek, or the Town Belt.

Each camp requires the students to be physically active. Students have a more enjoyable experience if they have a good basic level of fitness and preparedness. On these practice walks with their PE class, the students have practiced the New Zealand ‘Leave No Trace’ care code and are becoming aware of what environmental sustainability can look like in our local ‘backyard’.

Some girls have walked with their full ‘tramping kit’ practicing carrying their pack and wearing tramping boots, whilst others have walked in their PE gear and checked out how waterproof their jacket is! Please encourage your daughter to keep walking outdoors and especially to practice walking in the shoes/boots they want to wear on camp.

The students have also been practicing the skills and responsible attitudes which will keep them safer on the walks whilst at camp, such as using the system of calling ‘Marco Polo’ between the front and back person when walking, to practice keeping the group within voice distance. Another safe practice learned on these walks is the traffic light system; whereby any student can call out ‘orange light’ if they need the group to slow for any reason or ‘red light’ if they need the group to stop.

Walking with others is an enjoyable and motivating way to exercise. We ask parents, caregivers and families to please go for a walk with your daughter, ask her to show you the tracks she went on with her class and help her get excited and motivated for camp. Equally important is the value of these walks to just be outdoors, to leave the phone and disconnect the wifi, breathe fresh air, be in nature, listen to the birds, and just chat, as often walking alongside one another makes it easier to both talk and listen.

As John Muir said “ In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks” .