In September, over 200 year 7 students and seventy year 12 students spent the day at Blackland Farm, a multi-purpose activity centre in the heart of the Sussex countryside. The trip, which is run annually, fosters team work and enables new students to get to know each other as well as their year heads.

 

Year 7 students worked together to solve puzzles and took part in a number of adventurous activities including archery, bungee jumping and riding a zip wire. Year 12 students competed in teams to complete a series of challenging tasks that tested their ingenuity and problem solving skills (e.g. working out how to remove ping pong balls from a pipe with holes in it using only a bucket of water and a jug on a string). Bravery was needed  when climbing thirty feet up a tree to negotiate a high wire and keeping the team 'mascots' - a clutch of hens' eggs - safe throughout required great skill. Having said that, the final challenge for the year 12 students - to construct a parachute from paper and string robust enough to protect their team's egg when dropped from the top of the abseil tower - resulted in a great deal of splattering.

 

Well done to our resourceful and enthusiastic year 7 and year 12 students; a good time was had by all on a gloriously sunny day.