Year 9 Camp

Year 9 Camp

On September 5th Year 9 set off for a three day camp at the Southern Cross Outdoor Education Centre, Somersby, on the Central Coast of New South Wales.  

The students lived out the Camp Motto of “climbing to new heights” by reflecting on the personal and collective challenges that they faced in a supportive outdoor environment.

The Southern Cross Philosophy of offering quality outdoor education opportunities and experiences by providing tailored programs to suit individual client groups rang true for all St Andrews students. As their Leader of Learning, it was a privilege to witness each of the Learning Groups working co-operatively with each other to achieve the challenging activities.

The most favourite educational, adventure challenges were abseiling, pirate climb, high ropes and the 215metre flying fox ride. I have to admit my heart was in my throat when I first arrived at the camp but once the activities began and the professional instructors took over reinforcing safety standards stringently, I relaxed. I was amazed that the students had no fear to abseil down the 20 metre platform from the tower.

“Miss, you can see the sea from up here! “ I took their word on this fact.

The Pirate Climb looked like an old sailing vessel, where students climbed on ropes to a height of 15 metres and traversed a range of elements including tyres and knotted ropes.

“Miss, you can see the sea, you have to come and look. “ My heart was in my throat again.

The high ropes consisted of seven elements suspended 4.5 metres off the ground. Students were attached to a safety lanyard as they made their way around the course. I was in a state of wonder as there was calm concentration on the students’ faces and yells of encouragement from the ground. I thought to myself, “well, we just won’t go home, we will just travel around Australia looking for adventures like true pirates.”

As you know, I had to return my charges to their respective families. However, it was a delight to take them away and I am so grateful to the wonderful St Andrews staff who went with me and were not the least concerned about climbing up and down challenging ropes. My heart felt thanks to my colleagues;
Miss Jessica Bisazza                   Miss Emily Pett                      Mr Ben Maguire
Mr Michael Said                         Mr Rohan Isaac                     Miss Cassandra Knezevic
Mrs Anita Weaver                      Mr Anthony Williamson           Miss Lyndal Simmonds
Mr Liam O’Kane                        Mr Phil McBride

To Mrs Sue Cooper, who helped me with all the logistics and arrangements before and during the Year 9 camp, a very special thank you.

Melissa Blackwell
Year 9 Leader of Learning