This article was written by Amrit in year 7. 

It was Tuesday evening; my bags were packed and there was a sensation of excitement tickling me. I was so eager to get to school, because tomorrow I was going to go to Kingswood for our year 7 residential!

The exciting trip contained many activities such as high equilibrium, archery, abseiling, an obstacle course challenge, fencing, problem solving, night line, mini Olympics, and zip lining. Each of the activities built up a different life skill.

Some of the activities required climbing up high. Some students were afraid of heights, therefore when their peers encouraged them to do their best, they pushed themselves and overcame their fears. I feel this was a significant component of the trip as pupils developed key skills such as confidence and team building. 

The trip was outstanding as we had the chance to get a feel of what it would be like when our parents are not always there to do things for us. For example, sorting our clothes, doing our bed covers, and many other things. I feel that this residential helped to make us more independent and less reliant on others.

The trip was good for us as we had a chance to connect with mother nature, we spent more time outside in a day than we would do normally. It gave us an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors; and get acquainted to the feeling of being away from the comforts of technology.

The experience was great as I got a chance to make some more friends. I spent some time with people I would usually just say ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ to. This is a good thing if someone finds it difficult to make new friends as the experience encourages you to mingle with new people.

Overall Kingswood was a great adventure and I would like to say thank you to all the staff that accompanied us on the visit.