Brentwood Preparatory School Incipe 2017-18

A Fly On The Wall - Year Six What’s Bushcraft? Bushcraft is our Year 6 trip to Oxfordshire. We stayed with The Bushcraft Company and we learnt how to live in the jungle or forest if we are lost and need to survive. What do we do at Bushcraft? We did a variety of different activities like: A Fire Workshop, Plant Walk, Swimming, Shelter-building, Pizza Kitchen, Navigation Lecture, First Aid Workshop, SOS Scenario and Tribe’s Got Talent. How long were we there for? We were there for five days, we left early in the morning on Monday and got back at midday on Friday. Who went? All of Year 6 went and five teachers went: Mrs Roberts, Mrs Trowell, Mr Matthams, Mrs Faiers and Miss Scotland. Where did we sleep? Every night you had the choice of sleeping in your tent or sleeping in the shelters that we built. I really liked the shelters because it was peaceful and surprisingly I was warmer than in the tent. How was the food? The food was delicious every day we had something nice, like for breakfast one day we had a full English breakfast. On one day for lunch we had pizza. For dinner we had Shepherd’s pie. Who ran the camp? The man who ran the camp was called Greggor and he was nice. We also had tribe leaders who were so funny and played awesome games with us. How much did you pack? I packed a huge bag of stuff and if I went again I would have packed more food because you get quite hungry throughout the day. How was the weather? The weather was good when we went up until Thursday then it rained, but it was fun when it rained because then we wore all our waterproofs. There was mud and puddles - it sounds horrible but it was more fun than when it was sunny. What was your favourite part? When we went swimming in the lake it was awesome but so so so so freezing!!!!!!! Would you go again? Yes, it was brilliant! Was it fun? Yes!!! Bushcraft 2018 All term I had been looking forward to Bushcraft as it has always been the highlight of the year 6 calendar. I had heard lots about it from previous pupils and from my cousins and I couldn’t wait to experience it for myself. I had recently been to Jersey and had an amazing time with my friends so I was expecting more of the same. When the day finally came I arrived at school with mixed emotions. Of course I was excited to be going away with my friends but I was also feeling slightly nervous at the thought of camping for four long nights. Bushcraft was much tougher than I could have ever imagined. For a start there were no power showers! Thank goodness for deodorant wipes! We had to use a portable toilet which didn’t exactly smell the best. Camping wasn’t the most comfortable of experiences either .Despite having a ground mat you could still feel the roots of trees and mole hills underneath you. Luckily I didn’t feel the cold due to the many layers I wore. Another low was the food. I didn’t find the food the most appetising however I did enjoy making my own pizza! I missed home more than I expected but I think this was due to the fact that I was tired from lack of sleep (late night chats with my friends could have caused that though!) On the other hand I have many happy memories of bushcraft that made it a trip to remember I was so lucky to share this experience with my closest friends. The campfires and ‘Repeat after me songs!’ were so much fun and very entertaining. One of the highlights was Mr Matthams leaving show. It was hilarious watching all the tribes perform with Tami and her group being by far the funniest. Mr Matthams even shed a tear. Building our own shelter was one of my favourite activities and I particularly enjoyed sleeping under the stars with my friends. I will never forget the afternoon we spent at the lake and Miss Scotland’s face when she jumped in. To say it was cold is an understatement! Bushcraft 2018 was certainly a trip to remember for highs and lows. I must say I was so looking forward to a hot bath, a takeaway and my comfy bed. Bushcraft Day One. After a long journey we finally arrived at Bushcraft. We were all really excited and eager to start our week. After a long walk into the woods we found our campsite. Our first activity was to make survival bracelets and create a tent pegs from wood. This was a really fun start to our adventure. Next, we were sorted into tribes and found who we were sharing a tent with. Our group was set the task of building an outdoor shelter that we could sleep in that night. We were only given a tarp and some string. You had to find two trees and tie the tarp around them and pin the ends into the ground. The sides were built up with logs and twigs to keep in the warmth. Bear Grylls would have been proud of us! Finally, came dinner. I was starving! At bedtime we decided to sleep in the tent and try the shelter the next night. There is one piece of advice I would give to future years going to Bushcraft. ‘Get to sleep at a decent time.” 65 Brentwood School Preparatory Enrichment Week