Sardines crawled down my throat

Taste buds dying, tummy screaming, as repulsive chunks of sardines crawled down my throat inch by inch. I had the expression of revulsion and cruelty all over my face. Sadly that's exactly what fear factor was about.

My nerves ran like the speed of light all through my body. Each time a slight breeze blew past a strong, disturbing scent walked by. Slowly inserting a wet, scaly sardine into my mouth I wrestled against it  to open up and chomp down. Suddenly, all sorts of jucies burst out like fireworks making me want to vomit. Gagging, vomit popped up and as slow as a sloth slid back down.

Swirling my hand around the plate I scooped up the remains of the sardines and fed my face. Eyes rolling back, and my brain buzzing I slowly swallowed the mushy meat and ambled my way back, pleased that i had finished the challenge.

There were ups and downs to this experience but I learned a bunch of new things. Courage, commitment and confidence were required a lot in this leader ship camp and I really enjoyed each challenge.

By Cheyann

Dr Discourages Devouring Deer by Brennan

On the second day of leadership camp Mr Reddish was staring, right in the eye, the biggest question in his life; what to do with the deer that was devouring all the activity equipment.
There are only two options:
 1) Whack it with the stick in his hand, or
 2) Wave his arms around and scream his lungs out and embarrass himself in front of everyone......

 He chose option 2!

Not my best Camp by Nikita

Packing my bags into the back of the horse float I started to get really excitied about camp. I quickly ran through my check list; sleeping bag, pillow, bed and drink bottle. Check! I heard Mum call out to hop in the car. We were about to go!

Leadership camp should be lots of fun and full of excitement,  I thought to myself as we arrived. I hopped out of the car, grabbed my bag off mum and caught up with some of my friends from other schools. Soon after, the names of people in each tent were read out. Thankfully I was with Cheyann. While setting up our gear I started sneezing and instantly realized that I had hay fever.  Running to Mum she noticed straight away that my eyes were swelling up and that I looked itchy. She snatched me some antihistamines  though I wouldn't respond. So i sat in the lounge for the next half an hour thinking it would go away. But sadly it didn't, it just became much worse. Mum looked at me. "I think I will be taking you home." I didn't say anything. I knew I could not have fun running around with hay fever  so i stood up and grabbed my bag and into the car I went.

It was a shame that I couldn't stay but my hay-fever turned into a cold and i know that I wouldn't have had a good time. There is one positive bit because when i came back to school everyone was talking about some Fear Factor and how they had to eat sardines and onion!

Leadership Camp 2013

What a great week Room 1 have just had on the Clustrer Schools' Leadership Camp at Ashley Park. Pirate sandcastle competition, Treasure Hunt, YMCA led team building activities, a Farm Walk, swimming and football were just some of the things going on. And then, of course, there was the Fear Factor! Check out the blog later this week to find out the real stories behind the photos.....

Skiing with Room 1

Last week Room 1 hit the slopes - quite literally! The weather forecast was not great, so the Room 1 camp was postponed for a day, but once we got up to Whakapapa, we had an absolute ball. Most of the children were novices on Day 1, but both boarders and skiers alike made rapid progress, thanks to lessons on both days and lots of determination from the children themselves. The camp went something like this:
Day 1: No skiing due to bad weather and a rather slippery acccess road, so it was Rock climbing followed by a swim at Turangi.
Day 2: Battle through the ski shop, then lessons, followed by supervised skiing in glorious sunshine in Happy Valley. Rapid progress for all, plus one or two more adept skiiers keeping Paul Bryant busy on the upper mountain.
Day 3: Slightly cloudier, but the snow mainly held off, meaning we were able to progress to the lower mountain for supervised skiing/lessons.
Combine this with lashings of delicious food, courtesy of Tricia Dickon, Keina Rose and Paul Bryant, lots of laughs at people falling over (adults included) and the camp was a great success.
A quick poll of the students as to what they would like to do for next year's camp, and there was really only one response - skiing!

Room 1 in Happy Valley before their first lesson. More photos in this week's newsletter.

Back in Room 1.........

Younger pupils not going on camp were not left twiddling their thumbs this week. Besides having the pool almost to themselves for swimming, Room 1's Mad Scientists spent part of their reading time researching Forces experiments, which they then carried out last Friday. Hovercrafts, catapults, Bottle Tractors and a Cartesian Diver were all proudly shown to Room 3 at the end of the morning. 

Eli and Byron investigate Force, Mass and Distance

George, Clive and Joe with their home-made hovercraft

Room 1 Maths show off their symmetrical something

In Maths on Fridays, whilst Year 7 are sailing, the younger Room 1 students have been investigating 2D shapes and their properties, together with a practical introduction to line symmetry. 

Leadership Camp

Last week saw the Year Seven pupils pack their bags and head for 3 days of fun and  leadership training at Ashley Park. The weather was kind (for the first two days at least) and pupils were worn out but excited on their return to school. Activities included The Amazing Race, Mapping the Camp, Spotlight and  Capture the Flag to name but a few.Watch this space for pupils' reports and photos.