Year 8 set off to Dartmoor for their final Westbourne Award experience, having completed their Common Entrance exams.
In this article, we hear all about the experience through the eyes of pupils Louis Clarke and Bobby McCulloch.
Year 8 had just finished their CE and we were off to Dartmoor where we would camp in the wild in a farm next to a stream. It was a long journey but it was all worthwhile when we arrived and we saw our tents where we would be sleeping for four nights. After the long journey we were all craving a run around, so we went and ran up a hill and ran through the woods exploring the wildlife. When we reached the summit we could see a magnificent view and watch the sunset. As children we couldn’t resist but to sprint back down the grassy hill with all our friends toppling down with big grins on their faces. We settled down in our tents for the first night with three dogs sleeping by our side.
We woke up full of energy and split into groups. One of the activities was to climb up a big rock putting our trust all in our friends as they were holding us up. Kayaking was very fun and everyone got involved and played games, everyone enjoyed the time on the lake. One of the activities really tested our strength when we went mountain biking through rivers and hiking up hills with bikes on our shoulders. One of the highlights was exploring a cave system, squeezing through gaps we never thought we could bring ourselves to attempt. We went 500m into that cave, and we saw a very large lake. We went exploring Dartmoor by orienteering and walking and finishing off with a cheeky ice cream.
When we had done all our separate activities, we all grouped together to abseil down a 100ft tall cliff face. We had the support of our friends cheering us on. With our heels over the edge, we lowered ourselves down with the adults securing us with a safety rope. We reached the bottom with tears of joy and with no regrets since we had done something that would stay with us forever.
Sometimes we had free time when we would play with the dogs and make dams in the streams. We all worked together and even make our own activities, which was a perfect thing to bond us closer.
On our last night we had 'Dartmoor's Got Talent' during which lots of people performed silly tricks and sang funny songs. We were all very sad to leave Dartmoor, but we could take another look at the memories that we created with a slideshow.
Dartmoor had many memories for us: sleeping in the backyard of a farm, eating in a huge tent and going off in our minibuses to try any number of activities that we were gifted with the chance to try. We have many people to thank for our wonderful experience including the Way Ahead staff and four of our teachers, Mr Brown, Mrs Franks, Mr Knight, and Mr Forsyth, and of course to the host of the farm; we learned many things and had so much fun, thank you for giving us this wonderful opportunity.
