Contributed by Josh Earnshaw: Congratulations to all the boys who completed the Year 10 leadership programme organised by Mr McFarlane, Mr Archibald, Mr Gibb, Mr Miller and Mr Simpson. 

The group was comprised of 16 boys who were selected by staff. The boys spent a number of lunch times with Mr McFarlane discussing leadership then participated in a three day trip to Burnham Military Camp.

The following boys participated in the trip:

Josh Earnshaw, Peter Rawlins, Matthew Ellis, William Snuggs, Henry Baxter, Robert Chapman, George Small, George Mulder, Sean Rhodes, Hamish Tayler, McGregor Isbister, Gemyn Bell, Coltrane Leach, Quinn Motley, Jack Blakemore and Jack Fulton.

From 28-30 November, the Young Leaders’ Group (16 selected Year 10 students) attended Burnham Military Camp near Christchurch. After we introduced ourselves to the soldiers who were looking after us, we were briefed by the 2nd Lieutenant then had lunch in the mess.

This was followed by Physical Training which involved a heap of running, pushups, squats and crunches for around two hours, challenging all of us. The buffet dinner which followed was delicious. Before bed we were split into three groups to complete two leadership tasks involving problem solving. We remained in these same groups for the whole trip, with each group led by an officer.

The next day consisted of mainly leadership tasks. In the morning we had four more leadership tasks. My favourite was when we had 30 minutes to build a platform 1 metre off the ground out of ropes, four planks and two trees, which could hold the weight of all of us.

After a great lunch we had directed leader tasks where a different leader was chosen for each activity. The most challenging of these was when we had to carry seven 20 kg water containers across a field without moving our feet while holding the containers. Any mistakes made meant we had to carry two cartons back to the beginning.

After dinner we were told we were waking up at 7:00am the next day. Instead we had to get up at 4:00am! Just before 5:00am we had a race between the three groups, carrying a 40 kg stretcher around a golf course while often stopping to do things like pushups, squats and military crawls. By the end of this activity, everyone was exhausted.

We had three more tasks that included putting up a tent blindfolded and lifting a barrel out of a no entry area using just two ropes without the barrel touching the ground, something that was more difficult than it sounds. Breakfast was brought to us during these tasks and included bacon, poached and scrambled eggs, baked beans and toast.

The final activity we had on the trip was a good way to finish. Each group had to move their “cannon” to different places then each person in the group had to fire it over the goal posts on one of the rugby fields at Burnham. The cannon was made up of a big log, a tyre and a barrel. To fire the cannon we had to kick a rugby ball over the goal posts from next to the “cannon”. Afterwards we ran around the field then carried our cannon back to the start.

Before we left we were debriefed by the 2nd Lieutenant and our group leaders. Our main feedback was to learn from our mistakes and to make a plan before rushing into any task.

Overall we were all challenged, often being pushed outside our comfort zone within a completely different environment and participating in activities that were foreign to many. Valuable skills were learnt and the experience benefited all involved.