A vote of thanks to our parents

From left - Brydie (Rm 13), Ms Mckenzie,
Amelia and Milly (both of Rm 12) jump off a wall
at Kaiteriteri beach.  

Hello everyone! You may have noticed we haven't published anything on the blog for a while - that's because we have been very busy preparing for camp. We went on camp with Room 12, meaning there were 36 students on camp - that required a lot of organising!

We went on camp last week - and it went on for 5 days and 4 nights (two spent at Whenua Iti Outdoors, one night at Appletree Bay on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, and one night up Takaka Hill at the Caving Club Hut). During the week many of us faced our fears, achieved life long goals and made stronger relationships with the members of our group - including the  Whenua Iti Outdoors instructors.

We owe a big vote of thanks to the instructors but also to our parents for their amazing support. Without our parents, we wouldn't have been able to pay for our camp, and we wouldn't have had all the right gear either. They also made sure that we were happy, healthy and feeling ok about camp before we left.

The beautiful Appletree Bay, where each of the 3 camp
groups spent a night after a 2 hour hike.

This year's camp was different to other camps in that there were no parent helpers needed apart from Alfie's mother - a BIG thank you to Jane for staying on the whole time and supporting Alfie and the other students when they needed it. Some students were a little nervous about going away for 5 days without their parents. This was a big ask - but again, no one worried about this factor of the camp, so thank you parents for going over this with us
and telling us to chill - which everyone (especially Sean of Rm 13) managed to do.

Everyone in Room 12 and 13 enjoyed themselves immensely, and a lot of the students not only did things they never thought they could do, but actually liked it:

"My biggest challenge was sleeping under a fly at Appletree Bay, but in the end I actually found it really fun and it was my favourite part of camp" - Johanna, age 11

"Coasteering was pretty scary (especially jumping from rock to rock) but it was really fun as well" - Jade, age 11

The parents must've been supportive when reading the programme and realising that their child(ren) might struggle with some activities on it. So thanks again parents for being really supportive and encouraging when reading the programme with us. As you can see readers, the Room 12 and 13 students' parents were amazing and us kids wouldn't have gone on camp without them. So, for the third and final time:

From the very appreciative Year 7 students and Room 13 blog team