S1 Residential 2007

Another successful S1 residential in Newcastleton.

Comments from some of our First Year pupils at the Residential.

“I jumped out of bed so excited. The residential was today. When I finally arrived in school, all of us crowded crowded in the canteen and our excitement bubbled over. The canteen was filled to bursting point with giggling, laughing and talking each of us telling our friends what we had brought and comparing the sizes of our suitcases.”

“After the long bus journey was finally over, we arrived at Whithaugh. It was a lot bigger and nicer than I expected it to be. We got off the bus and had to stand in our groups for our lodges. We all had to go to our lodges when our group was together and then eat our lunch.”

“ My first activity was the gorge walk. We reached the cabin beside the lochan to get
kitted out. We started the walk and the first thing we arrived at was a small (quite mucky) tunnel. All the people in my group went through except  for Katie and I.
My favourite activity was the go karts because it was fun controlling the karts your own way. I was in the blue kart which was number 2. I think it was the fastest kart”

“The cold, murky, amphibian infested, weedy lake. I could go on for ever about it’s
bad points but strangely we all loved it.
Swimming in it, jumping in it getting drenched in lake water, being laughed at- we adored it all.”

 “My favourite activity was canoeing. I was really excited to go on them. My activity group walked over to the docks and met our instructor Owen. He was funny and friendly. We straight away got stuck in and got our life jackets and waterproofs on. Then we jumped in and started going around the lake. We got a bit over excited and capsized Daniel’s boat! It was really funny though.”

“When I think about it now, I am so glad I actually did the raft building. I wasn’t going to do it until one of the leaders told me  I would regret it later on, so I did it.
I was in a team with Megan, Jenny, Zara and Amy. Our raft was really good. The boys raft sunk as soon as they got on it so they all had to hop on ours.We reached the middle of the lake and our raft brokeso we fell in. I felt as if I had no legs or arms as the water was perishing!”

“Our last activity of the day was paint ball. I wasn’t too bad at this but Cameron was the best with a highest score of 800 and something.
For dinner we had sweet and sour chicken which was disgusting and tasted like plastic! After dinner we had ‘House Activities’ for which we played ‘Chinese Ladders’ and ‘What I want’. We then had supper which was HOT chocolate, diluted juice and biscuits, then we went to bed”

“The last night was a fantastic , brilliant, loud, crazy night. It was a great night because Meldon and Cademuir were joining up in the games hall to have a loud crazy disco. I enjoyed the night for about three quarters then I started to think it was getting boring. Finally, sadly the last night was coming to an end”

“I learnt loads at the residential and speaking to the instructors found another future career.
Over all the S1 residential was an amazing experience and if I got the chance to go again I would definitely go.”

Below is a selection of photos from the S1 Residential. Click on the thumbnails to see full photo.