Year 7 Camp: “It was great fun – until the sweets ran out!”

KAS students embraced three days of adventure and self-discovery on the recent Year 7 Camp trip.

The intrepid group set-out for the Norfolk Lakes Activity Centre near Norwich one sunny September morning for the annual trip.

Indoor activities included wall climbing and fencing, whilst out on the vast (and, according to one student, “freezing cold!”) lake, the group enjoyed paddleboarding, kayaking and canoeing.

Students also put their teamwork skills to the test with a raft building session – rather successfully, as the picture above shows!

The water sport activities really put the students’ resilience to the test. “Even though the water was cold, I decided I wanted to get in,” says Leila. “Once I finally did, I just kept jumping in to get used to the cold.”

“The lake was freezing cold, but jumping in was actually lots of fun”

Her Year 7 friend Alice adds: “It got warmer the more you jumped in, so it actually became lots of fun.”

In true camp spirit, the two-night trip saw students sleeping in bunk-bed dorm rooms, which allowed students to further develop their sense of independence and fostered community spirit.

“Sharing a room was so much fun,” says Alice. “Our whole floor was like one big family. We even got up at 6am to give someone a mini Victoria sponge cake for their birthday.”

“Some people did get a little homesick, so we made sure to comfort them,” shares Leila. “We found ways to distract them and cheer them up, like making up silly stories to make them laugh.”

So, with the students apparently unfazed by cold water, sharing a living space and early morning starts, were there any downsides to the trip? Yes, says Alice: “When the sweets ran out!”

Click to see more images from Year 7 Camp in the gallery below