Year 10 Finally Get Their Night Under the Stars

September 30th 2026

Last summer, the heatwave forced the cancellation of the Year 9 camping trip during Activities Week. This year, Year 10 got their chance, and it was worth the wait.

The group left Alleyn's early in the morning. After arriving, students refuelled with breakfast (pastries, fruit and overnight oats for some, bacon and egg baps for others) and pitched their tents. A welcome and orientation followed, then the day began in earnest.

A packed programme

Students were split into teams and rotated through a series of activities designed to test their skills, their teamwork and their sense of adventure:

Bushcraft: learning practical outdoor skills the old-fashioned way.
Foraging: discovering what the landscape has to offer.
Cooking: students got stuck in and helped prepare the food themselves, so some of what ended up on the plates was their own work.
Storytelling: sharing tales and letting imaginations run wild.
Hiking: exploring the surrounding countryside on foot.
Sport and games: stoolball and mölkky, the Finnish throwing game that proved surprisingly competitive.
The quiz: a test of general knowledge, and of team loyalty.

Fuelled for adventure

Feeding 135 hungry Year 10s is no small task, and the students played their part. Lunch was a hearty spread of beef and mushroom burgers with corn on the cob, plus ribs and potato wedges. Dinner was a warming lamb and vegetable stew with garlic bread, finished off with ice cream. Many of the students had helped make the food in their cooking sessions, which made it all taste that bit better.

A magical evening of Shakespeare

As daylight faded, the camp was transformed. Gathered around the fires and out among the trees, students spent the evening immersed in Shakespeare's Macbeth. There could hardly be a better setting for the play: flickering flames, long shadows and the dark of the woods pressing in. Scenes were performed by firelight, and the witches' scenes, delivered in the woods, sent a few shivers down spines. Words that can feel distant in a classroom came alive in the open air, and many students said it was the first time the play had truly made sense to them.

It was a chance to relax and enjoy each other's company away from screens, timetables and homework. Then it was lights out and silent hours, and a night in the tents that many will remember for a long time.

Thank you

This trip only happened thanks to a great deal of hard work behind the scenes.

Our thanks go first to Mr Green, for making the trip possible and for making it work within an extremely busy school calendar.

Special thanks go to Miss Roberts, for the enormous amount of work she put in both before and during the trip.

We are also grateful to Mr Hawkins and Mr Alldrick, for their help in planning the trip and their support on the ground.

Thank you also to all the staff who gave up their time to lead activities and keep everyone safe, and to the students, whose enthusiasm, good humour and resilience made the trip a success.

After a year's delay, Year 10 have their camping memories at last. We hope they will be the first of many adventures to come.

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