The Magic of Camp

I doubt that there are many Springfield girls who have not read Harry Potter. One of the attractions of these books for children is the magical world of Hogwarts where exciting adventures take place away from the constraining eyes of parents or the ongoing competition with demanding siblings. In Hogwarts, there are different rules, different adults, the possibility of new adventures and above all a place where you can be yourself.

I would imagine that is what 107 Grade 9’s were thinking when they arrived at the Buffalo Drift campsite near Gouda last week. It was their Hogwarts. Things happen at Camp that would never happen in the ‘real world’. For a start, there was probably not a single girl who missed her cell phone – especially as everyone else was in the same position. Most of them didn’t care how they looked and many wore the same clothes throughout camp – even after going through the mud and the cowpats of the obstacle course. Others – what bliss – just lived in their costumes.

There was a certain magic, too, about Buffalo Drift even though there was no Platform 9¾ wall to be negotiated. It was wonderful to watch girls grow in confidence as they were swept along by the general positivity and enthusiasm. This was very evident when the group did the obstacle course – certainly not everyone’s cup of tea – and there was an initial reluctance amongst those of the group who were not athletic and looked with horror at the mud and the cowpats. Yet, by the end of the morning, virtually every girl had given a good crack at some part of the course.

The night of the skits was another case in point where creativity and imagination were called for when they were asked to act out a scene from their favourite movie and the rest of us had to guess from what movie it originated. In the second skit, they were asked to recreate what happens in the Springfield staff room. This proved to be a great hit. Springfield clearly does not have a normal staff room where teachers spend most of their time catching up their marking or replying to emails. In this ‘Hogwarts’ staff room of Buffalo’s Drift, it was a revelation for me to find out that all the teachers did was to discuss their social life. I had no idea the Springfield staff were such party animals.

To the delight of the group who fell about laughing, the mannerisms of a number of teachers were mimicked and lampooned. When a group of girls starting looking back at me minding my own business at the back of the tent, I knew that I was not going to escape. In their skit, a group of teachers were discussing my next assembly which resulted in a declaration that the topic should be one about cockroaches – a veiled reference to my previous assemblies where fleas, frogs and ants all had their turn to provide the lesson of the day.

The group found all this very amusing. I said later that I would follow their instructions and talk about Grade 9’s in assembly – but they didn’t think that was very funny.

One girl had come to me beforehand very fearful of ‘acting’ in front of the group but the new-found confidence of the girls and the absence of judgement resulted in most of them finding in a willingness to project a different version of themselves to their peers. I think our Drama teacher, David Fick, would have found a different version of theatre magic on show at this Grade 9 camp. Camp is not school. Here there is no judgement. No evaluations. No comparisons. No pressure. No adult expectations.

The girls revelled in the fact that camp was ‘not school‘ where all performances take place in the glare of teacher and parent expectations and where the girls feel that their academic, sporting or music lessons have formal or informal consequences. At camp, they do not have to be talented in anything – they just have to take part. Or not.

And yet there is so much learning and socio-emotional growth happening. I marvelled at how quickly the girls solved the mathematical problems at the maths rotation. At the debating rotation, their enthusiastic participation was a tonic where the lesson of the game showed that a successful outcome would only be reached if both sides of the debate co-operated. They conspired and collaborated together to solve the issues at hand in every aspect of the camp. I know that those three days at Buffalo Drift taught them a number of lessons of life that would have been difficult to learn at school or at home.

I couldn’t help thinking that certain leaders of China and the USA would have benefitted from attending our camp.

Being together for 24 hours a day for three days, sharing facilities and personal space, teaches invaluable lessons which are easy to ignore back in the real world. Jessica Ballantyne as teacher-in-charge used every incident as a teaching opportunity and continually emphasized that consideration for others was a priority. I think that this group of girls have learnt that success in life is to be part of the solution – not part of the problem.

The magic of this camp was that the girls were given space to grow. I would like to think that every parent has noticed a more confident, mature and independent daughter return home, excitedly sharing tales of escapades, adventures and new friendships. Professor Dumbledore would have been proud.

Keith Richardson

Headmaster