Maitland Area School

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are camps held in the last week of term 2?

Camps are held in the last week of term 2 because it causes the least disruption to our learning programs.  Some time ago, camps were in week 6 of term 3.  It took far too long for many of the students to settle back to a working routine in weeks following those camps, whereas now we go basically straight on to holidaying.

How does wet weather affect camps?

Wet weather generally does not affect the running of our camps.  Experienced supervisors arrange alternative activities around climatic conditions.

Why are camps run simultaneously?

All camps basically run at the same time of the term because teachers teach a range of year groups across the school.  Too many relief lessons would need to be set for their classes whilst they were away, again causing a less desirable teaching situation.

What do students not on camp do?

There is a normal teaching program delivered on the other two days of the week for the camps that only run for three of the days.   The problem exists back at school when too many parents allow their children to needlessly stay at home.  The small amount of children that are at school as are reluctant to engage in learning if the other students are relaxing at home.  These students are expected to be at school, just like the rest of their peers.

On Monday and Tuesday of week 3, a group of Year 10 students attended an Aquatics Camp at Port Vincent. The weather was perfect for the two days although this did mean that we couldn’t do the activities that needed wind. This left the group to have several goes at snorkelling along the reef, the marina rock wall and along the spit. The boys were particularly good at catching crabs while others preferred to look at the variety of sea life. Other events attempted were kayaking around the bay and knee boarding. We stayed at the Tuckerway Hostel on Monday night where we had a barbecue for tea and the boys cooked the scallops and crabs they had caught.
We arrived back at Maitland around 5:30pm Tuesday, very tired, but having enjoyed the two days on camp.

The year 6 class travelled this week to Illawonga Camp at Swan Reach on the River Murray for three days of water activities, gymnastics and fossil hunting.

At the campsite—which started off life as a training site for gymnasts—we were greeted by Mark Coleman the owner. He introduced us to Mike, who was our teacher and bus driver for the afternoon. We drove to Cudgee Almonds, a large property with over 15,000 almond trees that were just coming into blossom. The property is also home to the Murray Aquaculture Yabby farm and after a visit to the  huge yabby grow out ponds we tried our hands at yabby fishing. Although just one yabby was caught by the groups (go girls!) we had fun with the rods, buckets and nets.

That evening we were herded on to the camp’s bus for wombat-spotlighting. Two huge spotlights mounted on the bus’s roof were controlled from within the comfort of the bus and students had a great time lighting up kangaroos, birds and wombats.

The next morning found us walking in our life jackets down the steep track to the Murray River. Mike took us down river to the Big Bend cliffs. Students were given the opportunity to pilot the boat and all took to the challenge without sinking us! Later we learnt to row an eight-person boat, learnt  about riverside ecosystems and learnt archery skills from our gym leader Melina.

Then the whole class  boarded the camp’s safari trailer and we visited a derelict homestead, had a scavenger hunt, touched an eagle’s nest and saw a rusty link to the Yorke Peninsula—a genuine Ardrossan stump jump plough. That afternoon we went to the Sunnydale Station Woolshed for an entertaining and educational program, with a sheep shearing demonstration, a sheep race, playing a bull roarer and feeding a baby Joey.

The evening’s activity was in the gym and over two hours many students showed their prowess on the parallel bars, the trampolines, the rings, the balancing beams and wooden ladders. We were supposed to have an early start but it took the teachers making a lot of noise to wake the class ready for the morning activities! Mark took the boat upstream and led the class along the base of the cliffs. There we donned protective eye-glasses and used metal hammers to dig out fossil coral, sea urchins and anemones. Students were allowed to keep their best specimen, with the rest being returned to nooks and crannies in the cliff wall.

Our last activity was back in the gym with another session on the apparatus and a final ‘gladiator’ style knockout fight between pairs of students high above the foam pit. It was interesting to see who was good at balancing AND swinging, with Thomas proving victorious, even over a very enthusiastic Mrs Derrington!

The students displayed commendable behaviour and manners throughout the camp and its so refreshing to see students voluntarily helping others with chores, showing concern for others’ feelings and including everyone in group activities.