Stephen Buckley

Canterbury’s ‘Campus Connections’ Water Battle Finale

Canterbury’s ‘Campus Connections’ Water Battle Finale

Canterbury’s Campus Connections program wrapped up today for 2021, with an all-in House vs House ‘Capture The Flag’ water battle on Oval 2 this morning.

The goal was for the Year 6 and Year 11 cohorts from each House to strategise together to capture the other House’s flag, by eliminating their opponents, while maintaining their own water supply line.

Students splashed by a water sponge or water gun were eliminated from the game, leaving the ‘survivors’ to refill buckets and water guns, remove more opponents, and try to snare the heavily guarded enemy flag.

The Year 11 leaders worked together to arrange these games, which descended into some form of ‘organised chaos’ once the water started flying on a warm Spring day and private ‘fun feuds’ were sorted. 😉

Ultimately, it was another great opportunity for next year’s Seniors and Year 7s to get to know each other and bond.

This way, the younger students will have some familiar and friendly faces at the top level of Secondary School when they cross over from Junior School in late January next year.

The Campus Connections program is fully detailed below if you wish to learn more about the fundamentals behind the fun.

In the meantime, enjoy the 'coordinated chaos' image gallery loaded onto our Facebook Page, with all our videos uploaded to our Instagram Account.

And thanks to Campus Connections Coordinator Mr Shannon Blackmore.

Campus Connections Program Summary

The Campus Connections program is intended to serve as a ‘bridge’ between members of each Canterbury House in Year 6, and their counterparts in Year 11, who will be the Senior Leaders upon their advancement to the Secondary campus.

It will initially be held on two occasions early in Term 3 during August (DONE), after which it will be assessed with a view to more frequent meetings in the future, such as Term 4 during November (TODAY).

Wellbeing Blueprint

This program is intended to primarily address the Social and Emotional dimensions of the Canterbury Wellbeing Blueprint, however it may include support for students in all other dimensions.

Canterbury Values

The program will primarily support the Canterbury Values of Community, Compassion and Respect.

Objectives

The primary objectives of the Campus Connections program are as follows:

• Build relationships between the Junior and Senior School campuses.
• Allow rising Year 7 students to meet their future Student Leadership Group and develop personal relationships with rising Year 12 students which will remain after graduation.
• Reduce concern and build excitement among Year 6 students for their future advancement to Secondary School.
• Foster House identity and pride by developing a sense of belonging and understanding of House Values.
• Provide Year 11 students with opportunities to demonstrate leadership, both for their own personal growth and to support their involvement in the student leadership application process.

Responsible Staff

The program will be supervised by the six Year 11 Wellbeing Teachers, however Year 11 students will be leading the program.

Year 6 Teachers, the Head and/or Deputy Head of Junior School will be responsible for preparing and, where necessary, debriefing the Year 6 students.

Dates

Meetings will take place during Year 11 Wellbeing lessons in Period 3 from 10:50am - 11:45am on Thursdays.

If the program progresses into 2022, a common time for Year 6 classes should be programmed to coincide with Year 11 Wellbeing classes.

Year 11 students will prepare their programs during the final few Wellbeing lessons of Term 2.

Program Details

• It will connect Year 11 and Year 6 students to do activities together, organised by the Year 11 students.
• Activity specifics are to be left deliberately open-ended, to allow maximum input from Year 11 students.
• Houses should develop their own objectives in accordance with their own House Values and Culture.
• Year 6 students will lead their classes to an agreed meeting point at 10:50am to meet their Year 11 counterparts.
• The Year 11s, under the supervision of their Wellbeing teacher, will lead the Year 6s to their classroom or another appropriate location to run the activities.
• Activities in the initial weeks are expected to include an element of ‘getting to know you’ type activities.
• Year 11 students will plan their activities in the final weeks of Term 2, creating a document detailing the activities, responsible students, procedures and equipment needed, and present them to their teacher.
• Year 11 students will conduct a debrief session during the week following the program, to determine which activities worked, opportunities for future meetings and to reflect on their performance.
• Feedback will also be sought from Wellbeing Teachers, Heads of House, Year 6 Teachers and Admin, and Year 6 students on the effectiveness of the program and possibilities for future experiences.

Progression

When approval is received by Heads of House and Head of Secondary, an incursion pack will be completed.

Upon successful completion of the first two Campus Connections dates, further dates will be identified and arranged if agreed by Heads of House, Head of Secondary and Head of Junior School.

by Stephen Buckley