Written by Amy (Year 8)
On Friday 11th June Year 8 enjoyed a marvellous day of fun. We did a range of really convivial activities including team building games from the Problem Solving Company as well as from the PE department. We were split into three groups in which we worked with each other to complete the activities.
The group I was in first worked with the Problem Solving Company to complete four challenges. These challenges were Key Code, Magic Handcuffs, a challenge where you had to move boxes into a larger box using a rope and a challenge where you had to pass a ball through sections of pipe that everyone was holding. My personal favourite of these was Key Code where you had numbers 1-30 randomly placed on the floor and you had to tap them all in the fastest time, working in a group of seven. My group managed to complete it in 11.5 seconds.
After break my group moved onto the PE department run activities. In this session we had to complete an obstacle course blindfolded. To start with we did a warm-up activity which involved working with a partner who was blindfolded and “being their eyes” describing moves for them to perform. After this we worked, in again groups of seven, to design an obstacle course which we thought we could complete blindfolded. We then completed this course as a group with one us able to see to guide the other six in order to set a target time for speed. After this we went round the other groups’ obstacle courses blindfolded trying to complete them in the quickest time possible.
After lunch we had our final session of team building which for us was from the Problem Solving Company again. This time we did three activities which consisted of pouring water into a tube to retrieve a whistle, stacking slanted blocks using a crane and a stepping stone game where we had to get to the end the fastest. My favourite was the one which involved pouring water into a tube. You might think this sounds rather easy but, working with the people in our smaller groups, we had to design a system using ropes to be able to pour the water in the tube without going in a certain area around it. It was really fun working with other people to puzzle out how to do it.
The day ended off with an entertaining dance session in which Mr Lewin taught us choreography to the song Hair by Little Mix. Everyone enjoyed this – even Mrs Gardiner Legge! The day has shown me how important it is to have strong teamwork and communication skills. It has also taught me a lot more about myself than I knew before. I think that it is really important that everyone has fun experiences like this to help them progress on the vital team working skills that we need throughout life. Altogether it was an incredibly enjoyable day and we were very privileged to have the opportunity to participate in it.