Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96Ilam Hall is a “breaking the ice” trip that happens every year for the new Year 7. The week-long residential takes place at Ilam Hall, a gothic mansion in the Peak District. This year, the trip was a big success. Not only did it achieve its aims of encouraging healthy living, participation and independence, but more importantly it allowed the children to bond and make lasting friendships. Another aim of the trip is to provide a clear division between primary school life and senior school life. It gave the children a grown up experience of working with people they barely knew. It also acts as a precursor to all the extracurricular activities on offer at the senior school, encouraging Year 7 to try out new activities. The moment the children arrived at Ilam Hall, three rules were laid down: no phones, no sweets and no climbing trees. They had an hour to put all the food – mainly sweets – they had brought with them from home in bin liners. This was to encourage the children to enjoy the high quality and healthy food served by Ilam Hall. At the beginning of the week no one really knew each other. Most of the children were nervous, quiet and reserved. That quickly changed after the first day - team building day. They took part in games such as the giant skis race, where the team members had to move at the same time to put one leg forward. The children didn’t really know each other at this point, but faced with a common goal, everyone did not hesitate to join in. Lights out each day was at 9pm, but the children were all too excited which caused one of the most challenging jobs for staff – getting them to sleep. By the end of the week however, they were all nodding off as soon as lights were out. In the mornings the children were all up at 6am, buzzing to get ready for the day ahead. On the Tuesday, the two groups did either rock climbing or water sports and then swapped around on Wednesday. For most of the children, these activities were new to them. They all showed tremendous courage by going for it. One memorable moment on the trip was during the rock climbing. One student was afraid to abseil but she was determined to have a go and overcome her fear. As the rest of the group had moved on to the next activity, one of her new friends, who she hadn’t known well before Ilam Hall, stayed with her for 45 minutes talking her into abseiling. She eventually completed the task with a sense of overwhelming achievement. When the two girls eventually went back to meet with the rest of the form the other pupils were all cheering and clapping. It was one of the moments that made the staff smile. For some students, the most challenging part was spending a whole week away from home. For most children this was a completely new experience for them. Therefore, another big challenge for staff was to get up in the middle of the night, to comfort, with hugs and hot chocolate, those who were homesick or upset. In the end everyone stayed. They stretched their comfort zones, building vital skills for future. The water sports included kayaking, raft building and sailing. Games such as racing took place on the waters of the lake. Most of the students fell in once or twice but that did not quell their smiles and laughter. There were hardly any tears and it was both warming and surprising to see how determined and sturdy they were against ilam hall 12 | The CovenTrian