Winchelsea Winter Warriors
Our Stories
Our last Take-A-Break camp for the next few weeks (before we head off to the snow with our REEFies), involved our first ever camp with Winchelsea Primary School. We were so happy when we rocked up to their school on Monday morning and were welcomed by 16 excited primary school students and their social worker Karlie. The children were a mix of all different ages and grades, with the youngest being from as little as prep to the eldest being those in grade six.
The three-day camp at the Cottage was planned to run like most of our respite camps, ensuring the children felt appreciated and supported and that our staff could encourage them to let go of their troubles, slightly challenge themselves and mainly have some fun!
The kids really enjoyed walking around the Queenscliff Marina and talking about Pilot Boats, they ran endless laps around the lighthouse to make all their wishes and dreams come true and they proudly spoke to a fisherman along the Portarlington Pier where they were lucky enough to watch him catch three little fish in a row!
When the tide was low, we spread ourselves out amongst the rock-pools and in the afternoon we decided to take a dip in the ocean, although nobody lasted too long with the chilly winter water temperature! Luckily enough for us, back at the Cottage we could enjoy some hot Milo and play some games like giant poison ball, the shoe game, opposite Simon-says and coloured corners to warm up!
As we said farewell on the Wednesday afternoon the kids exclaimed that they didn’t want to leave and they wished that they could stay for longer. They were however very excited to receive their give-away bags full of awesome items and were also fortunate enough to all be given their very own wetsuit, thanks to the wonderful organisation, “Stoke Swap.” Some of the kids even took some extra’s home for their families!
Although their few days on camp involved some of the worst kinds of wet and windy weather, the children’s hearts were still as warm as anything and we really hope that we can continue to grow our new relationship with Winchelsea Primary School in the years ahead!
