Bushcraft Survivial - Day 5

Students woke up early to clear away their tents and have a swift breakfast, ready to catch the 09:30 coach to Brighton. Once again, they showed their improved resilience, independence and proactivity in getting the job done efficiently and in effective teams.

After a lovely day in Brighton, where they were free to explore and shop with pocket money in groups, we are finally on the road back to Hammersmith. All of them are in good spirits and looking forward to seeing family and sleeping at home.

Please remember to find out about their highlights from the trip. Ask then what they have most enjoyed learning about, how they worked with friends and how they think they can apply their new skills in chasing their ambitions and pushing themselves in school. Finally, please make sure to encourage them to put themselves forward to help with cooking, washing up, making their beds, and telling you more about their skills and passions!

Thanks again to the awesome team at Really Wild Education: Mat, Steve, Nev, Abbi, Charlie, Alec and Shane.

Most of all, thanks to our wonderful Latymerians, who pushed themselves to learn new skills and develop more independent and ambitious outlooks.

Bushcraft Day 4

On our last full day at WoWo camp in Sussex, Latymerians impressed the teachers and the amazing Really Wild Education instructors. In the morning, they worked really well in teams to conquer a trio of challenges. In primitive weapons, they learnt skills of throwing spears, and using bolases to trip prey! In the woods, they worked well on communicating with each other to navigate obstacles while blindfolded! They also realised how important it is to stay safe when assisting others in bushcraft first aid, where they also made a stretcher to carry ‘injured patients’, one of whom was Mr O’Leary!

After a quick and healthy lunch, it was great to see all of their skills coming together in the Really Wild Olympics. This culmination of their lessons included a fire-race (how fast can they ignite some cotton wool with a fire steel?), a stretcher race, a race to build a signal fire, and a spear target challenge.

In the evening, some students did work on finishing their spatchelors and spoons with knives. Our final student-cooked dinner was a yummy stew cooked in a massive cauldron.

We were able to show appreciation for one another and celebrate an awesome week in the big tipi, where we toasted marshmallows over the fire bowl. Everyone retired to bed late, ready for one last sunrise-alarm-clock the next day.

Bushcraft Day 3

We were all treated to an amazing cooked breakfast from one of our teams of Latymerians this morning. Lots of lovely food, thank you!

The day was focused on skills in the woods. We all loved learning about plants you can eat, and plants you certainly cannot eat! Year 7s enjoyed picking their own nettles! They also made some awesome emergency shelters with just pegs, string and tarpaulin. They were amazed by how little we actually see in the tracking activity, and how hard it is to remain silent in the stalking activity.

The afternoon and evening were full of games, and relaxing by the stream. As the light faded, year 7s burned off some extra energy by playing crocodiles and capture the flag in the dark.

Bushcraft Day 2

On our second day, we had a day full of vital bushcraft skills. First, we had fire skills. Our fiery Latymerians learnt the basics of fire starting and safety, with a surprise mini-chemistry lesson thrown in! After starting with a few meagre sparks, soon the Year 7s warmed up and were ready to compete in a fire race!

After a self-cooked lunch, they went on to improve their knife skills. They learnt about safe and effective sawing, splitting logs with a knife and baton, and applied their skills to produce some awesome spachelors. Wait to see the finished product later this week!

After a fun evening meal (as usual, cooked by them!) of sausages and burgers, they ran off the comfort food in the fields and woods nearby. They were very tired by the end of the day, and slept soundly in their tents.

Bushcraft survival - Day 1

We arrived to glorious sunny weather in Sussex. Latymer Year 7 made a great impression
with their tent-pitching and willingness to help out. In their first knife craft session, they
learnt the key skills of knife safety and some initial cutting techniques. In the end they
were able to make tent pegs!

After making their own bread over the fire, adding ingredients like cheese, chocolate,
vegetable chilli, and custard powder, they burnt off the dough with night games in the
big field. Tired out, they retired to their tents for lights out and sound sleep by 11pm
(ready for the sun to wake them up nice and early the next day!).

Bushcraft - Day 4

Another busy day in which pupils put a lot of their new found skills into practice. They spent time in the woods, first foraging for foods and learning about plants, then they were challenged to create their own fire place, combine their foraged foods and make a dough to cook bannock.

In the afternoon we held the Bushcraft Olympics and 4 teams (including a teacher team) competed a round robin of activities to protect a village from a 'saber tooth tiger' that was on the loose!

In the evening students chose to either learn about cordage or continue on with their knife craft.