Last week most Year 8 students travelled to Totara Springs in Matamata for our annual 3 day Outdoor Education experience.

Despite being the middle of winter, we were blessed with cool mornings and mostly bright, sunny conditions throughout the entire week. This great weather enabled us to get through all of the fabulous activities without any significant issues. 

Some of the student highlights included the awesome selection of giant slides (which are fed by underground thermal water), the abseiling tower, flying foxes, kayaking, raft building, archery, air rifles and the new Canadian slide.

Year 8 staff were hugely impressed with the behaviour of our students and also the willingness to try new things, which inevitably pushed our students outside of their comfort zones and led to new learning experiences.

A huge thank you to Shelley Brockelsby, who does the vast majority of camp planning and organisation, and a big shout-out to the absolutely fabulous group of parents who contributed in such a positive and fun way. The AJHS community certainly appreciates the ongoing support and commitment to our camp programmes, and would like to acknowledge those brilliant parent helpers that enable us to run such amazing experiences at every year level across our school.

Overall, Year 8 Camp was a huge success. Well done to everyone involved, and we now look forward to the equally exciting Year 9 outdoor education experience on Kawau Island in week 10!