As part of the year 12 PE Studies course, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Camp, Mrs. Heffernan and Mrs. Holmes took 42 students camping at Tawharanui Regional Park. They all had a fantastic experience, creating many memories they will cherish forever. The week consisted of cloudy and sunny weather, with the students returning tanned and a bit burnt.
The two classes went to Omaha Beach where they participated in surf life-saving. The Year 12 students were looking at risk management in the outdoors, analysing “the application of risk management strategies to a challenging outdoor activity.” Before coming to camp, the students learned about different types of risks and how they could prevent risks from occurring. While at Omaha Beach, they had two instructors who talked them through safety in the ocean and on the beach and encouraged them to participate in beach activities. The students did various beach activities, like surf lifesaving activities where they learned what to do if someone was drowning.
Wednesday consisted of the classes going kayaking at Jones Bay, and snorkeling at Goat Island. The waves were very rough at both places, making both activities a little difficult for the students. However, they were able to identify many types of risks, such as capsizing, which happened to a few students, seasickness, which also happened to some people, and having to know your limits, mainly due to the environment and weather.
One of the practical internals the students were being assessed on, was snorkeling. Before snorkeling in the ocean the students had two pool sessions at the Otara Pools where they learned about equalising, squeezing your mask to let water out of it, and buddy towing. They did this to minimise risk when snorkelling at Goat Island. At Goat Island, the students had to swim 3.5m underwater and touch the ocean floor while showing that they knew how to equalise. They also had to show the instructors that they knew how to buddy tow.
The two classes went paddle boarding and surfing at Tawharanui on Thursday. Students describe these activities as being, “really fun,” and “exciting because you don’t know what the waves are going to do.” On the big paddleboard people made pyramids and jumped off of the top of them. They also did handstands and cartwheels.
Students got to choose their groups. Together, they had to bring their own food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, having to cook their own meals. Groups made nachos, pasta, burgers, and hotdogs for dinner.
At night the two classes did activities together like charades, quizzes, and hide and seek with the teachers. Another highlight was sliding down the hill on rubbish bags. Sports equipment was brought from the school as well, so people played touch, cricket, badminton, and volleyball.
Through these activities, new friendships were made as well as laughter being shared. All of the students had a great time, describing it as being “the time of their life,” and “best experience.” Another student said she liked the fact that, “we all came together and did the activities as one.”
Mia Gilchrist
