Monday, 11th July

Wow, what an amazing, busy first day at camp! We start every morning with the famous L and E dodgeball, where we split into 4 groups and then have an epic dodgeball competition with all the campers. Unfortunately, it was a resounding defeat for the tutors against the campers this morning but the tutors will come back fighting tomorrow! 

In the morning, the Open Minds group had a brilliant time getting to know each other through icebreaker activities. They went for a walk in the sparkling Yorkshire sunshine collecting objects in nature, which they then used to map their current life journey representing their significant events.  It was an opportunity to talk about significant moments in their life while expressing their creativity. Meanwhile, some campers built their very own dens, thinking creatively about how to use objects in nature with the finished results producing some outstanding houses and even a mansion! In sport, we had a great time playing football, where the campers showed brilliant camaraderie and teamwork. It is fantastic to see the campers getting on so well already, we can hardly believe that it is the first night of camp. In creative, we decorated the outdoor playground areas in true L and E style with some beautiful outdoor chalk art. 

In the afternoon, many campers chose to play a thrilling game of indoor hockey, where again fantastic sportsmanship was shown. A particular shout out should go to the non-bib team, who it would be fair to say were the underdogs, but showed great spirit to score some world-class goals and go on to win the game. Captain Jack Sparrow would be proud of some of the swash-buckling technique that the non-bib team showed in their manipulation of the hockey sticks. In adventure, campers had a lovely time exploring the grounds collecting nature art which matched a colour wheel. The results really demonstrated the rainbow beauty of nature. In creative, campers had the opportunity to do some free art to a music track, where they could express their emotions creatively.

It was such a hot and sunny day today that we had to bring out the waterslide. It was great fun watching the campers enjoy themselves slipping and sliding down the hill and was a brilliant way to cool down! On Monday evening, the L and E icebreakers ensured that the campers all got to know each other and helped to create team spirit. We had multiple camp records broken in the chubby bunny competition, multiple malteasers mined out of a flour bucket and a hilarious after-8 challenge. We had 4 out of the 5 eggs survive the egg drop, with the campers designing some solid structures to protect their egg. It does mean however that we will have to be tougher on the kit next week to ensure we get some more scrambled eggs! All in all, it was a brilliant start to L and W world camps 2022!

Tuesday, 12th July

The campers started their second day with a tournament of morning dodgeballthat culminated in a nail-biting showdown between Diego and Rodrigo, who both put in an athletic performance that impressed the gathered crowds. This was followed by the traditional campers vs. tutors match, which was yet again won by the campers with ease!

The Open Minds group spent the morning sharing their ideas about how to establish a positive learning environment for their classes over the next two weeks. After creating a communal set of guidelines, the campers explored social media algorithms, exploring how they can influence daily life through a series of activities designed to shed light on the impact of our interactions with technology. 

The many collective talents of the campers were on full display across the L&E campus today: we had some shining sports stars in a morning game of rounders and some promising future filmmakers exploring their creative talents through the creation of TikTok videos for the newly formed L&E account soon to take the internet by storm. 

As well as the sports and creative options on offer, all the campers had an amazing opportunity to experience life underwater after donning scuba suits and hitting the pool to learn the basics of scuba-diving. 

The afternoon adventure group also made a valiant effort at campfire building, skills which came in handy during the set-up for our evening activity: a campfire for all the campers in the beautiful setting of the Yorkshire countryside. The campers gave great renditions of some traditional L&E songs, before treating us to some wonderful performances of their own favourite songs. Many of the campers then joined together with friends to share group performances of their respective national anthems before finishing off the evening with some eagerly awaited toasted marshmallows. 

After such a varied and action-packed day, the campers enjoyed an evening hot chocolate before heading up to bed for a well-deserved rest ready for another busy and exciting day tomorrow!      

Wednesday, 13th July

Day 3 in World Camp 2022 is coming to an end and by golly what a day it’s been! Although pancake day was the 1st of March in the rest of the UK, in the world of L&E it was today judging by the delicious treat chef Nobby (the resident Gordon Ramsay) served up for breakfast. Fuelled up with both food and elation following such a delicious breakfast, the campers proceeded to continue their series of convincingly beating the tutors in dodgeball, and on to the morning activities we went…

Cross the gondolas of Venice with the setting of an Alan Bennett play – and you’ve got our morning and afternoon adventure activity – paddle boarding along the majestic Yorkshire rivers. There was a bit of spilling, plenty of thrilling and a whole lot of dream fulfilling going on as our campers made their way down the riverbank and excelled at something they’d never tried before.

In open minds our students were broadening their horizons, role playing how to have productive disagreements and having frank and insightful debates about the big topical issues that society faces. Our English lesson students went scavenger hunting, setting each other challenges and covering the school far and wide to find a bunch of unusual objects – although it could be said that friendship was the greatest object found today. In sport we all got our zen on in yoga, contortioning into shapes that would have seen a record-breaking score on the hit BBC show Hole in the Wall. Our final creative instalment of the morning was jewellery box making, creating bedazzled containers fit for nothing short of royalty.

Busy bees make lots of honey, and our busy campers need plenty of food to keep those energy levels up throughout the week – fortunately with lunch the chefs got two parts into a hat trick of culinary delights with a sumptuous roast dinner offering,

After such an action packed, activity stacked morning you’d think maybe the afternoon wouldn’t quite be able to maintain the same momentum – oh how wrong you would be…

We had basketball. We had board game making. We even had some expert classes in photography! Will the fun ever end?!?

After another amazing afternoon we had pool time before pasta delights for dinner. Finally, it was time to walk along Hollywood boulevard to the L&E cinema room and enjoy the Greatest Showman before bed.

With theme night around the corner camp is quaking in anticipation about the excitement to come tomorrow – but for now, what a wonderful day, what a wonderful start to camp 2022, and may there be many more to come.

Thursday, 14th July

What a busy day! Today in our famous dodgeball mornings we enlisted the help of some of the campers to help make the tutors vs campers games more balanced skill wise. We also had 4 incredibly long games of dodge ball, where the campers were really starting to improve their teamwork skills.

In the morning, in adventure we did abseiling, where the kids started climbing down the quarries like spider monkeys (no spiders involved)!! They grew in confidence throughout the session – being able to quickly scale up and down the walls with enthusiasm and skill. In sports we had a very competitive game of rounders, we started off warming up with improving our throwing skills and then eventually learning the rules of the rounders game. Afterwards, the campers took part in two competitive games, where the scores were extremely close, but the Biggest Nash Warriors team took the crown. In creative, the children took part in creating loom bands and friendships bracelets, helping solidify friendships and expanding their creative skills. 

In Open Minds, they all joined together as one collective group and viewed a video of street epistemology and recreated it; helping growing their knowledge on the topic whilst discovering new, more difficult topics to think more thoughtfully about. Working in small groups to discuss their opinions on said video whilst also conducting their own street epistemology discussions to other groups apart of Open Minds. 

In the afternoon, the campers took off to go abseiling again, whilst the rest of the campers split up to either do theme night prep or tag rugby. In sports, they played a friendly game of rugby, each team working together harmoniously to help ensure they win the game! Theme night prep was one of our most successful creative sessions yet – saying a lot for some of the buzzing hours our budding artists have experienced in the last week. Each child made at least one thing that we could hang up and set the theme of musicals throughout camp to help make the theme night experience even more magical and enthralling – we had a yellow brick road made, multiple musical-themed posters and a few creative costumes!

For the theme night The Greatest Musical of All Time came to L&E, where the cast of multiple famous musicals joined the camp to sing and dance to ‘The Circle of Life’ and ‘Any Dream Will Do’. Some would say it was ‘Fabulous’!! However, this musical suddenly changed in tone when the children suddenly had to play murder mystery and solve the murder of PT Baunum, interviewing all the cast and connecting the clues to figure out who’s done it! Or which pair had done it.  

The children then settled down after experiencing the thrill of playing Sherlock Holmes with some hot chocolate before going to bed. Another successful day at L&E!

Friday, 15th July

Another day in paradise (or Aysgarth as you may know it). Beginning our day with the legendary L&E tradition of mighty dodgeball, the students displayed deft dodges; rivalling Strictly’s own Anton Dubec. Such intensity and dedication to a sport could hardly be found elsewhere!! Our campers are certainly ballers!

As per the norm, the students were met with the trickiest decision on planet earth – creative, adventure or sport… 

Our mini Monet’s shone again when met with the task of extreme postcard design. From the Eiffel Tower to the L&E Campfire to the popular sandbox video game Minecraft – you name it, they made it. When combining different modes of art the children displayed their unique creative innovation, expressing their personal style and encompassing what they have experienced whilst at camp. Paint, felt tips & pencils galore!!!!!

Over in the sports hall, we had shuttlecocks soaring in our matches of badminton (all friendly games, keeping true to our ‘be kind’ ethos). Alongside these awesome racket skills, we had some children take on the initiative to begin a volleyball game when waiting for their match to begin. Although many of our students came to L&E from sunny beaches, they had never so much as played the summer favourite that is volleyball. Despite this, everyone was playing in no time displaying clean shots and a fair mindset.  New talents and friendships forged simultaneously within the athletic heart of our camp.

 Get your popcorn ready as Hollywood came to L&E with our showstopping english classes! Led by Paul (aka Joseph and his technicolour dream coat). Celebrities such as Pizza Man, Mr John Blackwood, and The Green Arrow arrived at Aysgarth to enthuse the children on their linguistic journey. Or in other words, the children starred in/created their very own blockbuster movie!! A Greg Wallace (well-regarded master chef star) style analysis was made into the status of the great Italian delicacy ‘Pizza’ was left unanswered – fast food or not, we may never know… 

In our Open Minds session today, the boundaries of debate was tested as we investigated the differing laws of free speech within each country. Tentative topics were approached maturely by our campers, and they completed the activity in a critical and adult way. Split into small groups, the students took on the challenge of controlling a fictional social media platform in which they decide the guidelines and what could be deemed appropriate as free speech. 

We brought childhood dreams to life as the children participated in L&E’s very own sportsday-esque Olympics. Egg and spoon race, high jump, sprint – we had it all!! 

Huge shout out to the ‘North Pole’ Team who excelled in every challenge, and took home the gold! Tensions were high but soon resolved by the timely and much appreciated arrival of a great British ice cream van! Self described as udderly delicious!! 

To round off the day with a bang, we had our L&E tradition of ‘Oscar’s’. A night filled with exhilaration, awards, and last but certainly not least, disco. Known to many as the biggest event as the year, Oscars is not a topic taken lightly. After awarding our first ‘Star Camper’ in 3 years amongst other similarly honoured prizes, the children tore down the dancefloor with the Macarena and other party classics (the YMCA gets an honourary mention).  A huge well done to all our spectacular nominees, and of course the winners themselves; they most definitely have done themselves and L&E proud. 

And that ends the week with many happy campers!!