Brentwood Preparatory School Incipe 2017-18

A Fly On The Wall - Year Six Day Two. I woke up early and we ate a hearty breakfast of pancakes and got straight on with the day’s activities. We made a 3D map of our camp from sticks and leaves, learnt how to light a fire, not as easy as you think, and collected fresh water and filtered it. Lunch was salmon. Some people even ate the fish eyes! They said they went pop in their mouths. Yuk, that wasn”t for me. That night we decided to sleep in our shelter under the stars. I think I got the best night sleep that night. Day Three. This day was my favourite day. After a lovely night’s sleep outside in the shelter we got ready for the day ahead. We found out that we were going to the lake today so we set full of energy. We walked to the lake through the woods. It was not too far. My group were not the first to swim so we sat in the sunshine and made some more survival bracelets. We explored the area and looked for fish in the stream. Finally, it was our turn to jump and swim in the lake. We got into pairs and jumped in. When my feet touched the water it was a big shock, the water was freezing! I had a bit of a swim around and got straight out. I decided that I would jump in again, it was worse than the first time!. Just to see if it would be colder the third time I jumped in AGAIN! It was still cold. Day Four. We woke up to the heaviest rain I had ever heard. It carried on for a long time. Today’s activity was a stick collection battle. Each tribe had to collect as many sticks as possible. We had to match finger and thumb sticks. Unfortunately my tribe did not win. At lunch-time we made our own pizzas on an actual stone oven. It was amazing. The pizzas cooked in around 45 seconds. That night was our final night and it started to rain again so we had to sleep in our tents. Day Five Our last morning in camp. Everyone was tired and upset that we had to leave. We quickly ate breakfast and started our walk to the coach. We had a long journey back to school. To pass the time we chanted and sang our camp songs. When we got back to Brentwood our parents were there waiting for us with smiles on their faces. I was relieved to get home. I wanted my bed and a shower. I noticed how much I smelt like a bonfire. Bushcraft was an amazing experience and I definitely learnt a lot. My time at Bushcraft Day 1 We got off the coach after a 3 hour drive to feel the fresh air of the forest. We sat down around a fire in a open canopy called the Yurt. The Yurt looked like a large sheet of waterproof fabric supported by thick sticks. We were told what tribes we belonged to and introduced to our tribe leaders. Day 2 The next morning, we had breakfast and started with the first activity of the day. We were given the task of building a shelter using a camouflaged sheet with ropes for support and sticks as walls. We presented our shelter to the leader of the campsite Gregor and he selected the best shelter. After an exhausting afternoon, we made our own fire and cooked delicious burgers on them. A few games later and we sat down for some needed hot chocolate. Finally it was bedtime, we were given the option to sleep in the shelters we made where you could see the Big Dipper, Little Dipper and North Star in the sky, or to stay in our tents. Of course I took the option to stay in my tent. Day 3 Today after having breakfast the tribes were split up to practise for a talent show activity. The activity was called “Tribes got Talent” and the tribes were to showcase their talent for a going away surprise for Mr Matthams. Later on, we went to the lake. At first we went cray fishing, then we jumped into the FREEZING COLD lake for a much needed bath. We spent the rest of the time lounging around in a field and trying to warm up after the cold bath. In the evening, we were taught how to skin a rabbit. This was an optional activity of course however it was an emotional one as well. Day 4 Today’s activity was quite the opposite from yesterday’s. We were given first aid lessons and learnt how to survive in the wild. We learnt DR ABS which is a way of remembering how to help someone unconscious or hurt. Later on we had a hike in the forest and then Gregor reported seeing drop bears, so the teachers went to look while we waited. At that moment, the teachers pretended to be in an accident and when we got there we had to use our medical skills to help them. After we got back to the camp we were taught how to skin a Salmon and some brave people decided to eat the eyes. Later in the evening we had “Tribes got talent” which was hilarious. As well as talent there were tears on display surprisingly even from Mr Matthams. Day 5 Today was our final day at the camp. We got up pretty excited, had breakfast, cleaned up our tents and after all the goodbyes we departed. It was another 3 hour drive back to school where we were greeted by showers of hugs and kisses from our Mums and Dads. Shelter building at Bushcraft The best activity of the whole week was shelter building, everyone was excited. We searched for lots of sticks to build the shelter. We were given a huge sheet of tarpaulin and tied it to nearby tree trunks. The two sticks at the front controlled the whole shelter. If they fell the whole shelter would collapse. We included logs for the furniture and left plenty of space for the bedding to fit. Our group also Brentwood School Preparatory 66