Prefects Bond Over Mud and Strategy

Posted in: News Archive

Longhill High has a brand new Year 11 prefect team who just spent a weekend getting to know each other a whole lot better!

The boys and girls in the team relished the opportunity to spend a weekend undertaking a series of tasks designed to boost confidence, leadership skills and communication.

The students arrived at Crowborough Military Training Camp for dinner together before undertaking some ‘ice-breaker’ activities and discussing the expectations surrounding their role as prefects.

Students were split into two teams to play board games, discussing tactics and strategies,  as well as a fact-finding game, ‘2 Truths 1 Lie’, which helped them get to know more about each other.

On Saturday morning, it was up bright and early for breakfast at 6.50am, all ready for the day ahead, followed by cleaning their accommodation and bed-making to military standards!

The first task of the day was a simulated survival scenario: a plane had crashed on a mountain, weather was -5 degrees, with a -20 degree wind-chill factor, with no rescue possible for 6 days.  The teams had to appoint a leader and then decide what they would prioritise as the most needed to the least needed items, which were things such as ski boots, cooking pot, penknife, etc.

This task allowed staff to look at the teams’ reasoning and leadership skills.  Both teams came up with different priorities and had to give reasons for their choices, as well as reflecting on their choice of leader and how individual members of the team had performed.

The second task of the day involved transporting animals (played by the prefects themselves) across a river, allowing only 3 at a time to be transported.  To add to the complexity of the task, only 3 could speak and the rest only respond with their assigned animal noises and not all animals could be left alone together. This meant that the 3 allowed to speak had to think about the different combinations of animals they would transport and which to leave behind.

This task proved to be invaluable for improving communication, understanding and leadership skills.

The final tasks of the day were the muddy ones!  The teams took turns in tackling orienteering and the obstacle course.  Prefect Lily told us, “Usually I don’t like mud and do everything to avoid it, but I absolutely loved doing the obstacle course!”  She continued, “It was a fantastic weekend.  Although I knew most of the other students, it gave us all the chance to see how we behaved in different situations and to really bond as a team.  We’re all enjoying our prefect roles and this weekend has helped to bring us closer together.”

So, students learnt new skills, bonded as a team, got muddy and were ready to get back to work representing Longhill High School, which they are making a fantastic job of!

 

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