2018

North Camp, Week 1, 2018

First Sunday Night, 8th July

With the sun beating down on yet another (surprisingly) gorgeous July day, the commencement of North Camp 2018 could not have started on a sweeter note. As the students bounded into camp, the tutors excitedly awaited their arrival. 

With some strenuous exercise carrying some rather heavy suitcases up the seemingly never-ending four flights of stairs, we were all rewarded with a wonderful barbecue, allowing campers both old and new to catch up and familiarise themselves with their fellow campers.

With the sun continuing to defy the odds and shine down on a happy bunch of campers, appeased and content with full tummies, the famous L&E games began. The evening commenced with a very fast paced game of ‘Splat’, followed by fruit basket, 40/40 and an old classic; British Bulldogs, we all saw a glimmer of the amazing fun to be had for the next four weeks. As a gorgeous sunset drew to a close, the campers slowly left the field and filed into the school for another annual camp debrief, concluding on a chant of our infamous mantra, ‘Be kind, be kind, be kind!’

As the chatter in the rooms slowly softened, the lights dimmed and the hubbub of the school eventually drawing to a close, North Camp 2018 looks to be our best year yet.

Click for First Night photos

Monday, 9th July

This morning started with a hearty breakfast of crumpets and honey which went down a treat and filled the children’s bellies in preparation for their first full day of camp. The warm-up was, the ever popular, dodgeball and as usual the children were victorious!!  The morning activities to choose from were basketball, canoeing and den building and, with the sun high in the sky, the children were keen to get started. 

After a wander through the extensive grounds the den builders found the ideal location for their grand designs.  Not only did they manage to build some amazing structures they also managed to decorate them.  The children showed some awesome teamwork and reminded us that in fact – teamwork makes the dreamwork!  Tim’s insatiable ability to get the basketball from ANYWHERE was quite outstanding but little Miguel was able to swish the ball from left, right and rhubarb.  

The canoeists spent the day on the water both in both the morning afternoon and again, we were lucky with the weather.  There was some falling and jumping in the water at the end as always!

The afternoon’s creative session was decoupage flower pots and tissue flowers to decorate their new rooms, adding lots of colour across camp. We also introduced the campers to this week’s World Cup theme and learned a bit about each other.  Today’s sport continued with an afternoon football tournament, in the penalty shootout Mani was amazing – his tenacity earned him “Person of the Match”.

Monday night means only one thing – ice-breakers!  New records were set in many categories.  Issac has obviously been practicing since last year and crushed the old chubby bunnies record and managed to get 17 marshmallows in his mouth whilst still being coherent.  Harriet (tutor) managed to catch an egg which was a new record for her, unfortunately the egg broke all over her!  We finished icebreakers with the egg drop where each team designs the safest way to drop an egg while keeping it intact……..3 out 8 eggs made it to the bottom! 

With new friendships made, everyone got into PJs for hot chocolate before bed.

Click for Day 1 Photos

Tuesday, 10th July

As the sun rose on the 2^nd full day of camp this year, campers woke up bright and early, prepared for another action packed day. Breakfast offered up the treat of some bacon, tomatoes and toast, the perfect fuel for the following dodgeball session. The kids dodged, ducked, dipped and dived through the mornings warm up activity, and left the dodgeball hall raring to go for the plethora of activities on offer for the morning session.

The morning activities were varied, but all proved popular amongst campers. For the English lessons a paper plane making, fact finding mission, all with the focus on the past and future tenses, transitioned into a summer themed singing activity with the focus on adjectives. Our sport enthusiasts tackled the challenge of touch rugby, our adventure campers had the exciting experience of scuba diving in our very own pool with a professional instructor, and the creative group were focusing on making flag and bunting (it’s almost as if there was a big game coming up.

The afternoon activities of campfire preparation, ultimate Frisbee and creating friendship bracelets were short, but immensely popular, as we needed to fit time for our first giant water slide session of the summer. The old favourite L&E waterslide was back, and oh boy was it back with a bang! Who’d have guessed that a hill, tarpaulin, washing up liquid and sumo wrestling could be the ingredients for the perfect summer afternoon?

After a dinner of enchiladas, it was time for the inaugural campfire of 2018. We boochickarooed our way through multiple campfire classics, and were then treated to some magnificent performances from campers and tutors, with a particular shoutout going to Greta for her superb rendition of Shawn Mendes’ ‘Stitches’. Finally, we had the big screen up and the seats in place, it was time for the game, the big one (or warm up for tomorrow), France vs Belgium. A great atmosphere, largely created from having campers from both nationalities, ensured the game was cheered on in a friendly but competitive spirit.

After the match ended we finished with some hot chocolate, and all tired after such a fun filled day, retired to bed, looking forward to continuing with the L&E adventure tomorrow.

Click for Day 2 Photos

Wednesday, 11th July

Today, yet again, we had beautiful weather in sunny Yorkshire. After a a delicious breakfast of fresh bread rolls and toast with cheese and ham we embarked on the morning warm up of dodgeball! The game was very intense and as the balls wizzed and whirled around the sports hall children dove and rolled out of line of fire.

The morning activities were very exciting. The adventure option was canoeing and the children basked in the glorious sunlight as they paddled through the lake. In the spirit of the ‘Word Cup’ they played football on the water, manoeuvring their canoes around some tricky turns to score goals against each other. However, the children spent more time in water capsized rather than in their boat and ended their trip with some dives and flips into the lake. It was so clear that they could see the fishes swimming along the lake floor.

Our sport option, was a game of kickball which is a cross between football, rounders, and baseball. The children rally enjoyed the competitiveness of the game and there were some outstanding sportswomen and men amongst them.

Durning the English lessons the students wrote stories and busting out some awesome acting skills during a game of charades. We are hoping to see more of this in their presentation later in the week.

In the creative activity the kids were painting some graffiti walls, working in groups to create a wall with their names and a picture. A few people also designed their own football kits. In the afternoon the kids did movie making and a dance routine.

In the afternoon the children also had the opportunity to chose a second adventure option of a very exciting scavenger hunt. Clues were dotted round the school and they had to find them, but after each clue there were more items that the group had to carry and/or wear that would make it harder for them to reach the next clue quicker. Out was a very entertaining display of determination and learning, mixed with a lot of fun and laughter.

Sports in the afternoon lead with relay races between the pizzas, the doughnuts, the burgers and the marshmallows. They competed in events such as the egg and spoon race and the three legged race. It is noted that that no harm came to any eggs during the competition.

After a delicious dinner of homemade pizza, the group split up, some people were watching the movie Coco, and others watched the horrendously shocking football match where most of us cried. Although it wasn’t a great day for England and their World Cup dream, at L&E the children have gone to bed with bellies full of hot chocolate and excitement for what the next few days of camp will bring!

Click for Day 3 Photos

Thursday, 12th July

The sunrise brought a overcast and cool morning  revitalising there children as they bounded down  the stairs and started off with an hearty serving of scrambled eggs, beans and toast to fuel a busy day.The morning session proved enjoyable and challenging covering the three zones. The sport option being split into two activities the first being handball. Teams separating themselves into 4 groups in a torment fashion, the competition was fierce  but  the Muchachalataas came out on top. Following this was bench ball a camp favourite where the children had to pass a ball to a team mate on a bench and join them till none where left on the field to win.

The adventure choice for the day was  thrilling rock climbing testing the children’s  nerves and  stamina conducted at Down Holmes quarry. Scaling  walls of varying degrees of challenge coming back to camp exhausted but with a sense of achievement.

The creative section consisted of game creation and owing to the season being the world cup these mainly revolved around football. One of the standouts consisted of a box painted and designed like a field and pompoms used for balls and straws to move it. A simple and enjoyable game that all could play.

The afternoon session matched the intensity and enjoyment of the first with sports involving tennis under the cleared sky. Ordering the children by experience across three fields so all could enjoy and learn as they played. This followed by indoor hockey coming down to a golden goal to break the tie.The creative options has a edible version where the children followed a tutor through the baking and design of biscuits. Following a  simple but direct  recipe the end result being delectable and shared  to their peers delight. Rock climbing proceeding through the day. 

Once dinner consisting of of pasta and rice ended ,they would needs its energy, theme night commenced. In this case the night revolved around the world cup. The children where separated into eight countries painted themselves to their nation and went  trough eight activities organised by tutors. These  consisting of flag naming, Tabletop football and commentating, catch the tears, fan celebrating, balloon keepsiupsies, slow motion dives and relays. All of these collecting red cards to be used at the finale, a penalty shoot out. These cards could be exchanged for extra shots  in the competition beyond the normal number. The air was charged but silent for each shot and explosive in its completion. In the end five teams being joint victor.

The night came to a end with exhausted bodies but smiling faces looking forward to the next day. 

Click for Day 4 Photos

Friday, 13th July

This morning began with many exhausted, yet happy campers, all of whom had spent their previous evening running around enthusiastically during the World Cup theme night. After enjoying a filling breakfast of bacon, toast and fruit, the day kicked off with the usual dodgeball warm up activity, followed by four exciting morning options. The students taking part in English lessons worked hard interviewing and asking their fellow campers and tutors questions such as ‘what is your favourite activity at camp?’ before successfully writing and compiling their own L&E newsletter together.

The other morning activities to choose from were campfire cooking, postcard and friendship bracelet making and rounders/indoor football. The adventure option of campfire cooking was incredibly popular as the campers enthusiastically participated in building the campfire, before making chocolate chip and sultana muffins, encased inside orange skins. The creative use of orange skins was a huge success and provided the muffins with a hint of orange flavour, but despite them being incredibly delicious, the muffins did not hinder the appetite of our campers.

We then enjoyed a delicious lunch of traditional fish and chips, before commencing the main event of the afternoon – the traditional L&E triathlon. The campers were divided into teams of three, with each person taking part in either the swim, run or the obstacle course. Overall the triathlon was a huge success, with prizes awarded to the winners of the bronze, silver and gold categories.

In the end, the night concluded with the famous L&E ‘Oscars’ as many campers were nominated in various categories such as ‘Happiest Camper’, ‘Most Helpful’ and ‘Be Kind, Be Kind, Be Kind’. A huge congratulations to all of the winners and nominees, especially for Aune, the week one winner of the prestigious ‘Star Camper’ award. The night also included special performances from our talented campers, with singing, dancing and gymnastics performances. The disco was definitely a highlight of the week and allowed all of the campers to celebrate the end of a successful first week at L&E 2018.

Click for Day 5 Photos

Weekend

And in the blink of an eye the first week of L&E 2018 was over. The children were sad to see campers depart on Saturday morning but their eyes soon dried as they looked towards the trip to York.

The weather was kind to us as we made our way to one of the most beautiful cities in Yorkshire. The children visited old sweet shops, enjoyed the street performers and had a lovely lunch by the minster. It was lovely to see all the campers chatting and enjoying each others company in the presence of such history and culture.

2018 Theme Nights Announced!

We know you’ll be very excited to hear what our theme nights are for this summer so here you go…. Each week we will have an activity theme night.  Bring your fancy dress accordingly. (it is not supposed to be something to worry about – you can be as creative as you want or just something simple is fine). If you are unable to bring anything then that’s also absolutely fine…

• Week 1: WORLD CUP

• Week 2: SPY GAMES

• Week 3: THE MOVIES

• Week 4: THE GREAT BRITISH SPORT-OFF

L&E South Camp

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• Week 1: THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

• Week 2: HARRY POTTER