John Muir Award

Year 8 John Muir Award

As the rest of the school began their Easter holidays, a group of 24 adventurous Year 8 pupils, including us, headed out into the woodland. They were determined to learn the secrets of forestry and survival, as well as working as a team and appreciating nature. The John Muir Award had begun: a special 2-night camping trip with our trusty guide Sam Cummins to show us the way. We would be put through our paces; cooking our own meals, creating supersized shelters, and learning how to look after ourselves in the wild. Everything began on Thursday morning, the

day after we broke up for Easter. We arrived and lugged our kit to the campsite; a piece of woodland we could pitch our tents in, adorned with a communal tarp structure (and a fire pit in the middle) as well as Sam’s wooden hut. Excited for the challenges to come, we assembled around the fire pit. Sam told us that for this camp we would be going back thousands of years, to the times when humans were hunter-gatherers in nomadic tribes, masters of their environment. We’d be split into our own wandering tribes, six pupils in each, with our clan elder to guide the way. Ms Bolton, Sam, Imie and Chris (our Sixth Form instructors) all had a tribe. The different groups would be competing for points, and the clan with the most would be the winner, and would choose a mystery prize or sweets as a reward.

Now, the activities could take place! Each tribe got a box filled with equipment - a pan, knives, flint and steel, a kettle, a huge tarp and some food supplies. This would be what we would use to survive (relatively) independently for the rest of the day, earning points for doing particularly well in certain things. First priority in the tribes was getting up our tarps in our different areas, and establishing camps and fires. Some groups even had time to make hot chocolate! Soon, toasties, for lunch, were being made with the bread, ham and cheese supplied in the boxes - yum! The rest of the afternoon centred around keeping the fire burning and making stands for our kettles, so they could boil over the fire. There was also an extra task to complete, alongside our survival camp. We were told that we had to make a plan for a huge structure we were making the next day - a community building made by weaving and bending hazel branches of various sizes. We completed designs which were to be presented to Sam. The next big challenge was dinner, making jacket potatoes with beans and cheese, with cooking styles varying between groups. In the end though, everyone had a delicious meal, and, despite the heavy snow (!), the survival day was ‘super’ educational and fun. It also really

helped bond the tribes together. Finally we headed back to camp, but unfortunately the temperatures for the night were well below freezing, and we weren't allowed to camp out. Everyone was picked up and headed home, where we would sleep for the night.

After some work organising where people were going to stay from Ms Bolton and a very hastily sent email to the parents from Mr Leach, everybody returned the next day; awake and ready to build the hazel bender community house. After some rather dodgy sausage cooking from Jasper (although we can testify they were fully cooked in the end!), Sam and some of the tribe leaders decided to finalise the plans for the hazel bender community house. Rosie’s tribe’s design, which was a long tube shaped structure, partly open on the sides with a large door frame and intricately woven sides, was chosen and soon there were 3 groups put to work to build it: Foundation builders, Snippers - armed with secateurs - and the Sawers, whose task was to coppice the larger hazel branches. Everyone showed great teamwork and by mid-morning lunch preparations were underway. With Chris managing the radios, everyone was in order and after about 4-hours’ worth of hard work, all the cut and trimmed hazel benders were back at base and ready for assembly. After a hearty lunch of calzones cooked over the fire, we got back to work! It was time to get the frame of the structure to be constructed. The first stage was to carefully tie together two large hazel branches to form a huge arch, approximately seven metres tall. The arch was pushed up, and its base slotted into the holes the foundations team made. The arch now stood tall, and the tarp, which was already tied at the level of the top of the benders using trees, sat on top of it, just as planned. Two more arches went up, forming the tunnel that was the rest of the frame. We just had time to weave smaller hazel benders in and out to form the first section of wall before dinner, a brilliant pasta dish prepared by Ismay and Co, was served up for the ravenous campers. It had been a day of hard work but a very enjoyable one too, and really rewarding to see our ideas come to life. The structure wasn’t fully completed, but we vowed we’d finish it off on the next camp. Sadly, the temperatures were still too low so we were again unable to camp out, and headed home for a good night’s sleep..

As soon as everybody was back at camp on Day 3, Sam got back to work immediately. After announcing that today was going to be a ‘points fest’, he gathered everyone over to

the axe throwing station, where the axe trials took place (carefully scored by Imie - the official points adjudicator for the camp) Every person in each tribe got three throws. It was challenging and only a few had the gift… Then it was put to the tribes to democratically put forward their best axe thrower, and Hannah showed everyone how it was meant to be done - getting seven out of her eight throws in the target! Then it was bug eating. There were all sorts of creepy crawlies, from mealworms to locusts (all, luckily, dead!). Anna and Alex both fought hard to resist them, but Anna triumphed. Next it was Rosie vs Eddie. Rosie was forced to suffer the fate of the mealworms. Whilst she rapidly washed the taste of her tongue, Anna and Eddie had the ultimate battle. It was close but eventually Eddie faced the same fate as the others with the ultimate insect cocktail. Then Sam introduced the mini axe throwing. Ismay and Max were the victors of that task- earning even more points for their team. Then a group was nominated to play Sam’s version of Spoons; Sticks. It was a good round, everybody showing their impressive reaction speeds. Finally it was a duel between Rosie and Will Hostler with Will being crowned the ultimate champion. Soon it was time for the final showdown: a quiz. Devised by Imie and Chris, with a jam-packed mix of Geography to Biology, this quiz was not for the faint-hearted. After the quiz, Sam gave out a mix of points from the whole weekend. The scores were so close, however the Mirror Gals (Imy - the elder, Anna - the tribe leader, Jamie, Max, Ismay, Thalia and Emily) just edged it by ten points! They all decided on the mystery prize which turned out to be a self-catering weekend at the camp for themselves and one other member of their family!

I think we speak for all the lucky Year 8’s when we say that if it wasn’t for Ms Bolton’s incredible organisation and determination (despite the weather!) John Muir wouldn’t have happened. We would also like to thank Sam for being such a fun, cool and chill bushcraft leader. Thanks also to Mr Leach and Mr Murray for helping out loads, especially when it snowed on day 1! Finally, thank you to Imie and Chris for being group elders, not giving up on us and helping us improve so much. It’s been an absolutely unforgettable experience and we’d love to do it again!!!

Ruthie Gawley and Anna Sievers