A true highlight on the Junior School calendar, our annual camps outs for Years 3 – 5 on the field have begun. Sadly last year we weren’t able to host due to Covid of course, but this year we’re lucky enough to be able to go ahead again!
Each year group from 3-6 has their own dedicated camp out night on the School field over Summer term, which means a total of 330 children get to experience the joys of camping and a sleepover with their whole year group. A team of parent, carer and staff volunteers host each event, and there is music, delicious foodie treats and excellent fun and games to be had by all!
Mr Cam Taylor, one of our Year 3 staff hosts, said: “I, like the rest of the team, was blown away by the comradery, independence and sheer enthusiasm of our Year 3 Campers. In the blink of an eye, dozens of tents appeared, put up by the teamwork of dozens of tiny hands. The benefits of coming together after lockdown were apparent in the smiles of happy faces chomping their s’mores. The teamwork and good spirit made us all very proud (maybe not at 4:00am).”
This Summer, you’ll be all too aware that the weather has involved quite a mixture of rain, wind and shine! You might recall that our Year 3 Camp Out was held on a rather blustery night, but as you can see from our photos, this was nonetheless a VERY exciting occasion for our seven and eight year olds. One Year 3 pupil, Ziggy, reflected: “Being away from home was fine because I was with my best friends. It was really windy in the tents but we were so busy chatting away that we didn’t even notice.”
Exciting build up
The momentous build up involves children pooling their overnight kits and sleeping bags in our foyer, and a uniform collection of Highgate tents are resurrected from 5pm, followed buy a host of activities into the evening including archery, cricket and a picnic!
Making memories:
Alice, one of our Year 4 pupils, explained: “We were really excited to do the Camp Out because we missed out last year. Although I missed my family, I had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the archery.”
Our Year 6s go on a separate longer residential trip – five days to Devon, as an exciting and rather poignant send off before they bod their Junior School days farewell and head off to Year 7. We’ll soon be sharing an update of their trip here on the news page too!
