KINGSWOOD

Reflections from Kingswood – Year 6

When I first arrived it was larger and prettier than I expected.  Weather was really sunny and beautiful.  The room that I stayed in was bigger than I thought with a lot of bunk beds and I stayed on the bottom because everyone jumped in the top before I even walked through the door.  There was a lot of greenery which was lovely.  On a boiling hot Sunday our first activity was caving for group 12 (my group) which meant going underground wearing a tracksuit.  I was burning.

My favourite things, I can’t really say, because I enjoyed every second of Kingswood.  I liked bush craft, side by side – it was very funny to see the teachers try! – Leap of Faith which was very scary but very fun, abseiling, zip wire, mostly the high up things.  Our group leader Rhi was very funny and supporting so I really like her as well.  One of the things I did not like was XXXX’s very loud snoring!  The dinners were nicer than I expected but they still didn’t match the school dinners of course.

I think that Kingswood helped me to step out of my comfort zone and try new things. Everyone should have a go even if they don’t finish the task; at least you know that you tried.  I loved Kingswood and I don’t think that I will ever get an experience like that again, so I am glad that I did every activity.

Charlotte

I really enjoyed Kingswood but I did have a few favourite activities.  I liked the zip wire, Leap of Faith and Side by Side.  I really enjoyed these as they gave me that extra challenge.  With the zip wire, my favourite part was dropping the rope, unclipping myself and levering myself down.  On the Leap of Faith I enjoyed climbing up the pole with Side by Side – you drove quad bikes while you had a friend as a passenger.  My favourite part was driving.

I learnt a lot of things in Kingswood like being more confident and believing in myself and if I couldn’t do it take one more step.  I learnt a bit about my friends; they were encouraging and always gave everything a go.  Kingswood is really fun and all you have to do is give it a go and never give up and help each other.

Grace

After two and a half hours on the coach, we finally pulled into Kingswood drive, excited for the days ahead.  Our team leader (Rhi) met us there and showed us where we would be staying and they gave us a tour around Kingswood.  It was a lot bigger than I had expected with a huge dining hall and signs for every activity.  We split into two groups for each activity so we could be doing different things at different times.

I don’t have a favourite thing because I loved it all so much but I really enjoyed sharing a room with ten other girls.

Everyone was extremely brave and encouraging towards everybody and faced their fears. I learned about myself that I’m not scared of heights anymore and stepped out of my comfort zone by doing the Leap of Faith twice!  Even the teachers had a go at some activities such as Mrs Berrett did the Leap of Faith and abseiled down a really high wall.  Mrs Lipscomb and Mrs Martin were professionals at Side by Side.

Isabella