Monday 25 November 2013

Internaional award Bronze 3 volcano challenge

This years '3 volcanos, one weekend challenge' took place over the weekend which has just passed (23rd and 24th of November). Thirteen International award candidates at the bronze level from grade 9 successfully completed the adventurous journey, which involved sumitting the volcanoes Izalco and Cerro Verde on Saturday, spending the night camping, and then climbing the Santa Ana crater wall on Sunday.

This years group were challenged by especially windy night on the saturday, which precipitated in a desperate evacuation of the tents to a less exposed location. This took place at about three o'clock in the morning in a flurry of tent pegs and shouting and one group decided that although they only had one tent pole left they were going to stick it out and eat an entire cake to bolster their spirits. In the morning an assortment of tent pegs, midnight snacks, and one woolly hat hat were nowhere to be found and,  presumably had blown away in the wind.

The strange winds proved to be the groups favor in the end, as we woke up to a beautiful clear sky and the
panoramic view across from Lago Coatepeque to the Coast had never looked so good. In the  final moments of the climb the wind picked up again, and this added an element of drama as the students peeked into the emerald acid lake, approaching in small groups for greater safety.


The bronze team learned to sleep in tents, and also the importance of setting them up well. They also learned what it means to carry a pack and walk uphill for a determined length of time. They are now well on their way to being successful bronze candidates at the end of the year, and will definitely be doing some extra fitness training in order to be well prepared.

Thursday 7 November 2013

Celebrating Book Week

Books have been around for thousands of years and allow us to travel to different countries, understand different viewpoints, travel back in time and ultimately to have a great time reading! Grade 6-8 students have been sharing their book choices all week and in the Book Week assembly. We hope many students will take up these recommendations and have fun with a book. Thank you to everyone involved in making Book week such fun.