I just wanted to take a minute to write and say THANK YOU to all the teachers involved in organising the camp.

We moved to NZ from the UK last year and my son was a bit nervous about going on camp as he is still finding his feet.  He has settled into his class fine, but there were lots of children going who he didn’t know. He wasn’t pleased when I told him I was going to camp too, as he hates the thought of standing out from the crowd and wanted to just be at camp by himself, without his “ embarrassing” Dad there! 

He found bits of camp quite hard, as he was in the rec room with lots of kids he didn’t know, but he got through it, without complaining about it and he loved the activities that were organised. 

Since camp, he is suddenly far more interested in taking responsibility for himself - from helping tidy up in the kitchen to helping his younger brother. He came out with me on a kayak by himself yesterday and paddled across the bay without asking for help or moaning at all, for the first time. He is preparing snacks for himself and offering to do the same for his brother, which hasn’t happened before!! I’m not sure how long all this will last but the time he spent at camp has had an effect on him in a very positive way.   He said at the weekend that he found camp quite hard, but today I heard him tell his grandad that he loved it. 

I just wish all kids had the chance to have the same experiences the kids from our school had this week. The lessons in getting on with people you don’t know, being independent, mucking in to help out, accepting the feeling of being pushed outside your comfort zone and being encouraged to do it regardless are invaluable in my opinion and I’m sure anyone doing a camp like this would benefit in some way. 

I can see it was a huge amount of work for  teachers who were running it and I’m not sure how many teachers would be prepared to commit to this, along with the other over extended work loads.   We are very lucky to have teachers like you at our school. All the parents who attended were raving about you guys and the commitment shown and I just wanted to make sure this was fed back to you. Please pass this on to the other teachers who went and whoever else is involved in organising camp and extend my thanks, as it’s a fantastic week for the kids, making memories that will last.