Grammar School News October
Duke of Edinburgh's Award Camp
See the gallery here.
Twelve students from the school's International Award for Youth group, otherwise known as the Duke of Ed., camped out on the cricket pitch on Monday 13th October.
This was the first of their practice camps where they learn camp craft and camp cooking skills. For older readers who grew up camping and having adventures in the wilderness, the cricket pitch might seem a bit tame, but many students who have grown up in the Middle East have never camped before. It is good to begin your camping experience in a safe place, with good bathrooms nearby!
Students learned about the best way to pitch a tent - taking care to avoid sharp stones that would make for an uncomfortable night's sleep or a torn groundsheet. Cooking dinner on the new multi-fuel stoves was a smoky experience; the white kerosene we were using can't have been of the best quality. Fortunately the Pot Noodles most people 'cooked' didn't prove too challenging. On the next camp though, students will be expected to cook a real meal.
After dinner we did some team building games, tying students in human knots and demonstrating just how difficult it is to tie a thumb knot in the middle a rope if you have a dozen people trying to help all at once.
With an hour to spare before bedtime we decided to try night climbing on the school climbing wall. That is quite a different experience - you can't see which are the better holds, for example.
After all the activities, the students settled down quickly after lights out. It was a horribly humid night though and even sleeping without a bag was most uncomfortable until about 4am, when it suddenly became cold.
You can just about guarantee dry weather in Saudi. Even so, then tents were very wet in the morning with condensation. Shortly after five, everybody was up and getting ready to take down the tents. Taking advantage of the school's proximity, we struck camp and moved the fly sheets to the common room to dry out in the air conditioning whilst we cooked breakfast.
In the spirit of real camping, and finding the shower blocks locked (he he he), students sought out the bathrooms for a flannel bath, the brave amongst them washing their hair under the tap.
Back in uniform and Mr H's classroom tidied up (well, almost), we did a sweep search to collect all the garbage, dropped tent parts and missing students, before starting school at 7.30.
Many thanks to Mr Green for chaperoning, and to Mrs Barnhouse for being our on campus emergency cover!
