education
My parents didn’t really push it: I’d never been away from
home before and I don’t think they were too keen on the
idea themselves, especially because one of the big things
about all these camps was that there was no student-parent
communication. Maybe it was supposed to build confidence, or
independence, but I think throwing a bunch of eight-year-olds
into a brand new environment and expecting them not to want
reassurance from mum and dad, was a bit optimistic.
Other kids weren’t so lucky, but my parents were never the
type to force me to do things I didn’t want to do, so I happily
skipped Year 4 camp, and didn’t feel any FOMO (fear of missing
out) when the rest of my year group came back. I didn’t get
to skip school, but hearing about rock climbing and tightrope
walking made me feel thoroughly vindicated for staying behind,
and so I dodged Year 5 camp as well. My parents might have
been a bit bemused as to why—I was sociable and had close
friends who were all goin—but they didn’t object.
Year 6 was a different story: I felt a bit more confident, and
(although I never admitted it to my parents) I wanted to get
away from home for a bit, too. Unfortunately, my experience
proved my earlier theories. Faced with the prospect of having to
eat Spam—yes, really—I essentially went on hunger strike for a
week; and our mattresses may as well have been rocks for all
the sleep I got. The activities, as I’d predicted, weren’t exactly
up my street—I was risk-averse, and jumping off (what felt like)
a ten-metre-high jetty into the sea and roaming through the Sai
Kung wilderness in the middle of the night were two things I
would have preferred to avoid.
Parent “My daughter was excited
and a little nervous about the Year
3 camp. I think I was more nervous
actually. But she is an independent
kid so she really enjoyed herself.
My son, who is younger, was very
nervous at first for his year 3 camp,
mostly because he sleeps with a
blanket and was a bit embarrassed
as to how he would manage.
But he was fine and my husband
was actually a parent volunteer for
his camp, so it made him feel
a bit reassured.”
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We were told that all this would ‘push us out of our
comfort zone.’ I didn’t want to be pushed anywhere, except
on a bus back to civilisation.
Did it make me more independent, or more confident?
Well, I did tentatively try to argue with one of our instructors,
so maybe it was character-building in a way. But generally,
it just made me grateful I’d avoided camp the previous
two times.
In spite of all that, by the time secondary school rolled
around I was full of youthful enthusiasm for Year 7 camp.
For one thing, it was—in classic international school fashion
—in Borneo. Even waking up one morning with a moth
dozing on my face was an improvement over the stench of
Spam, and what can I say? That certainly took me out of my
comfort zone!
This may all sound like a horror story, but it’s one with
a silver lining. I went to camp every year after, and each
year they got better and better. Each time was a dynamic
new experience. I’d never been snorkelling before Year 10
camp in a beautiful island off Malaysia, let alone been a
hairs’ breadth away from green turtles and black tip sharks.
Blasting down deserted roads in a rickety tuk-tuk in Thailand
in Year 8 was breathtaking (quite literally). So hang in there—
it’s not quite the boot camp you imagine it to be!
All schools seem to have different thoughts on school
camps, with some starting as early as Year 3 and others
as comparatively late as Year 7. For most primary schools,
residential camps are only within Hong Kong, with popular
spots including Lantau, Cheung Chau and Outward Bound
in Sai Kung. Others take a bigger step across the pond for a
cross-cultural trip to Beijing.
There really is no one-size-fits-all approach; some children
aren’t quite ready for it at that age, others are confident,
independent and raring to go. Often the parents are more
nervous than the kids.
What helps make it easier to pack them off to camp is the
ethos of the school itself, some parents say. One mother with
children at an international school explained that her school’s
“very nurturing environment…comes out at camp too.”