Life Skills Week Away

Life Skills Week Away

The entire Year 12 group attend a Life Skills Week in Wales at the end of the summer term.

Day 1

The first day began with a hearty breakfast of bacon, beans and toast for everyone. Afterwards, each house split and learnt a new life skill in an hour’s session in the morning, namely on the world of finance and loans. Following this we were split up into three different groups and each participated in a different activity for the day. School and Rigaud took part in a day of team building exercises, starting with a nature walk along the coast with a short stop for lunch by the sea. In the afternoon sun, we walked to an activity centre where we worked in groups on high ropes and rock climbing. Everybody had to work together to belay the person climbing up and help them when coming down. Teams also participated in sessions of laser tag before heading back to the centre for the evening. Another life skill session was held on car maintenance before small groups cooked spaghetti bolognese for dinner for the rest of their cabin. A magician hosted an entertaining act for us all in the evening. The interactive tricks were mind blowing and really impressive, with the magician even pulling out a previously selected card from an audience member from a chocolate bar in Nadia’s pocket! After the performance it was off to the cabins and to bed in preparation for the busy day tomorrow.

Day 2

We all woke up early on the second day and after breakfast there was a life skills session centred around stress and how to deal with it. The session focused on methods to reduce stress, such as exercise and meditation as well as making lists to organise situations that cause stress. The day’s activity for the School and Rigaud houses was gorge walking and climbing up a 25m rock face. Groups had to help each other out and work as a team in order to scale the cliff in the sunny weather and to identify which areas were safe to step on and use as ledges during the climb. During the gorge walk, the groups conquered their fears by climbing through narrow walkways by the river and even up some rapids before jumping off from ledges into the river, with the largest jump being 5m high! We followed this with a life skills session for everyone on first aid and how to correctly deal with situations where somebody is in need of medical help. Then, a group from each cabin cooked dinner – chicken korma curry this time – before each house got together in preparation for the evening’s talent competition. The resulting show meant there was tight competition from each house, from Felaw’s choreographed dance to the ‘Hoedown Throwdown’, to Holden’s rendition of the most famous songs from ‘High School Musical’. But in the end, it was School House that won the competition with a dance to Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies’, with Jaaziel’s impressive dance moves being a highlight of the evening!

Day 3

Students began the last activity day of the South Wales trip with another early start and a breakfast bap. Then we had a session on interviews and how to prepare for them, whether it is for a university or a job application, before the activities began. Students from School and Rigaud houses then spent the day doing activities by the sea. In the morning, students surfed the waves of the Porthcawl Bay, with some being able to completely catch the waves and stand up and balance on the board. After a relaxing lunch break by the sunny shore, groups participated in body boarding and raft sailing activities. These included team building competitions, such as working together to make a balanced human pyramid on the wobbly raft to holding all the body boards out in a line in the sea tightly enough for other members of the group to run across. In the evening another life skills session was held on personal safety before groups from each cabin cooked some stir-fry for dinner. Everybody came together to watch England’s match against Belgium in the World Cup before getting ready for bed and to head back home the next day.

“Thank you to Mr Calver, Mrs Austin, Mr Duncombe and to all staff who came on the trip for organising and helping to make such a wonderful trip for Year 12 pupils.”

Anna, Year 12