Year 9 Activities Week 

The Year 9 Activities Week from Monday 26th July to Friday 30th July kicked off energetically with the external team building company, Outdoor Academy, delivering a series of fantastic games for our students on Grove Field. With everything from rock climbing to indoor caving inside a bus the teams got stuck into a series of fun and engaging activities, mostly in the fresh air. Outdoor Academy aims to ‘provide positive experiences for people of all ages to learn, realise their potential and create lasting memories.’ And that’s certainly what our Year 9s found on Monday 26th June! 

On Tuesday the cohort ventured to Thorpe Park for a day of thrills and fast rides! The theme park features some of the UK’s most popular roller coasters including Stealth, the UK’s fastest roller coaster which launches riders 205ft into the air at 80mph in just 2.5 seconds. The new Ghost Train ride was a pull for our group keen to be scared out of their wits! The Swarm, Saw, Tidal Wave, Storm Surge and the Rumba Rapids were also a big hit – despite the splashes from the wetter rides!  

On Wednesday raised adrenaline levels remained high as students visited Reading’s popular climbing centre, The Parthian. Our intrepid climbers clambered up to the top of the wall and seemed to be elevated miles up in the air when the holds ran out! Fortunately they were able to belay safely back to stable ground. The complementary activity for Year 9s was a carousel of wellbeing experiences in school. The students tried yoga, built LEGO models, tried some mindfulness colouring, created chocolate truffles and vanilla cupcakes in food tech and folded origami models out of newspaper, learning how to be peaceful and yet occupied simultaneously. 

Thursday and Friday were anything but peaceful as the groups excitedly set off on their Bronze D of E expedition near Hungerford, led by Outdoor Education Manager, Isaac Walker. The group spent a night under canvas, cooking on trangias, carrying back packs and walking over 15km per day over the two days. It was a very satisfying conclusion the the term’s worth of training each member of the group has undertaken and as the majority of students have now also finished their physical, their skill and their volunteering the can look forward to collecting their certificates next year!