On Thursday 14th September, Year 10 embarked on a fun filled, adrenaline based, outdoor adventure residential to Edale.

For three nights they were based at one of the highest residences in the Peak District, the YHA Edale. The students participated in various risk-taking activities such as rock climbing, abseiling, weaselling, canoeing and caving, which required students to push themselves outside of their comfort zones and support each other to overcome their fears. A great start to Year 10 and teaching them how to rise to any challenge they may face.

View photos from the residential here.

Hania Tauqeer (Year 10) thoroughly enjoyed the adventure based residential and has written a brilliant reflection:

“Edale was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have ever had. On the first day, we took a long coach ride to the Peak District and saw so many amazing views. We excitedly settled into our dorms and had a delicious dinner. We soon discovered that we had no service or Wi-Fi and so had to come up with new ways of entertaining ourselves. We were then put into groups for our activities. Although I was initially disappointed that I was not with any of my friends, I soon discovered that this was for the best as I was pushed out of my comfort zone and was able to connect with new people.

“The next morning, we went on a hike to a hill named the Nab. We had to plan a route on maps and had to navigate our way ourselves. This was certainly challenging at times, and we even ended up completing our route in reverse! After lunch, we went weaseling. This was my favourite activity, because I was really surprised how fun squeezing through rocks was. We even got to name one of the hardest rocks we went through. We named it the Toaster because it had two perpendicular routes you could squeeze through to get to the other side.”

“The last activity we did that day was abseiling. This was really fun, especially as we had to do some of it in the dark after the sunset. We all had two goes, and on the second we were all dropped for twice. This enabled us to go much faster and screams of surprise escaped us all!

“The next morning was really foggy and we went rock climbing. I found this quite challenging because the cracks we had to climb on were really narrow. We had to try especially hard at the start, where there were very few footholds. After descending from our climb, we all felt a sense of great accomplishment and achievement.

“Next, we went canoeing. Because of an odd number, I was in a boat with Mrs Sadler and Mrs Redfern, which was certainly an experience. We all did challenges, including a race and a game where we had to conquer other countries (boats). At the end of this session, we were allowed to jump into the water and have a quick swim.

“Our final activity was problem solving. For this, we had to solve some small challenges, for example trying to move a stack of tires from one post to another in the correct order and a version of charades. We then went back to our dorms for one final night in Edale.

“I really enjoyed my time at Edale. I was able to make new friends and try new things I would never have done otherwise. I would definitely recommend this trip and would love the opportunity to do it again.”