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Year 7 has enjoyed a packed week full of of trips, activities, inspirational speakers and a Year Group boarding night. Here are a few of the highlights:

On Monday, Year 7 ventured over to sunny Marlow and Bisham Abbey for Day 1 of their Trips and Activities Week. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly, the canoeing – pupils paddled their way upstream before completing mini challenges, battling their way to the end.

Meanwhile, foam archery battles took place on dry land. The sports centre created obstacles and an archery battleground for the pupils to put their new skills and accuracy to the test. The final activity of the day involved various team building challenges that had the pupils in stitches and giggling their way to bus!

One of the Year 7s, inspired by her visits to the river, painted this beautiful watercolour.

Year 7 beautiful watercolour

Back at Lambrook there was a delicious BBQ and more games outside organised by the boarding team (water was involved!) and then ice cream to round off a fantastic day together.

I loved our boarding night, it was a great opportunity for everyone to be together and the activities were challenging and so much fun!Year 7 Pupil

After a fun boarding night and superb breakfast, it was back on the bus, this time to the River & Rowing Museum in Henley. Pupils took part in some Geography workshops starting with a river walk where pupils learnt about flood defences while being able to identify how the islands in the river are formed due to deposition. Meanwhile, in the interactive museum, pupils did a self-guided tour whilst pretending to be either a local resident, the town council or a member of the Environment Agency. The final activity was a hands-on session with pupils learning about the processes of a river, the evolution of the Thames and looking at various river management techniques.

Our third and fifth days in the Year 7 programme were on site at Lambrook with visits from the ‘I can and I am’ bus. James Shone and his team were the main focus as the children learned about his inspiring story; he was on the cusp of a headship and suddenly his life was turned upside down after doctors found a tumour behind his eye.

James then hosted the children on the much-anticipated double decker bus where they made scrumptious pizzas from scratch and had chance to talk in small groups.

The next time I face a challenge I’m going to remember to push forward and try to remain positive.Year 7 Pupil

At the same time, the hotly contested Inter-Form Group Cricket Tournament got underway – it was wonderful to see much sportsmanship and support for each other out in the field.

I really loved the Inter Form Cricket Matches and the competition was tight! It was great to be in a Form Team of girls and boys together.Year 7 Pupil

Thursday started with a talk from two inspirational speakers; a social entrepreneur and the CEO of Shivia, a charity that helps people living below the poverty line in India earn an income.

Pupils then collaborated in groups to decide on their own social enterprise and organised roles within their organisation before having the unique opportunity to present their ideas to one of the Dragons from ‘Dragon’s Den’, Nick Jenkins, the founder of Moonpig.com and investor in social enterprises and start ups.

There was a real buzz and enthusiasm amongst the groups as they planned their ideas and presentations. An they did not disappoint when it came to presenting to the ‘Dragons’ and their Tutors and peers in the afternoon.

All presented confidently and had some great ideas, including a particular highlight which was watch for people with dementia bought on an accessible subscription basis that utilised AI to have conversations, reminders to take medication and play recorded messages from loved ones. In a Q&A after each presentation, our panel congratulated the children on their ideas and challenged each group to develop them further.

It has been a truly inspiring week and a pleasure to watch Year 7 surpass expectations when presented with new challenges with a lot of fun along the way.Head of Year 7