On Friday 4th May, 60 Upper Fourths accompanied by eight brave members of staff and eight Lower Sixth girls headed for the Cotswolds Water Park, dreaming of our beds and recovery from the first week of the summer term. As a reward for conquering the backbreaking task of setting up an entire field of tents, dinner was served in the form of a boot full of pizza, literally enough to feed the 5000! Fast-track 4 hours and the KEHS spirit was radiating from the campfire in the form of multiple renditions of some good-old camp songs, completed with roasting marshmallows and chilling ghost stories.
On Saturday, half of the girls spent their day completing a 12km hike, whilst gaining invaluable map skills from our sixth formers who had recently taken part in the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Expedition. We then learnt how to light our own fires without matches and built the most durable shelters in an enlightening “bushcraft” session. The other half took advantage of glorious sunshine, undertaking a variety of water sport activities from kayaking and canoeing to stand-up paddle boarding and raft building, from which not one person emerged dry. On the following day the group switched so as to enjoy a full range of activities. The weather was incredible all weekend, and actually made the water quite nice to fall into!
All in all, the trip was a jam-packed weekend, full of unforgettable moments. These, amongst other highlights, made for great stories on the way back to Birmingham. On behalf of everyone on the trip, we would like to say a massive thank you to all the staff involved and a big thanks to Mr Jarvis, without whom such a trip would not have been possible. Roll on next year!
