Benenden students travelled far and wide over the summer holiday this year, with separate trips venturing to Iceland, Kenya and Snowdonia.
At the start of the break, 47 Fifth (Year 10) and Six One (Year 12) Geography students and their teachers flew to Iceland. They arrived in the middle of the night and were immediately struck by the 24 hours of daylight that Iceland experiences at that time of year. On their first day, the group went whale watching – over the next two hours, they were treated to multiple whale sightings, some breaching just metres from their boat.
Other highlights of the trip included visiting stunning waterfalls like Gullfoss and Skogafoss, exploring active geysers, and touring a geothermally powered greenhouse that produces vast numbers of tomatoes.
The group also walked inside the volcanic crater at Kerid and swam in the warm, geothermal waters of the Secret Lagoon. At Reynisfjara beach, they saw a colony of puffins, some of which posed for photos with the students. For many, the highlight of the trip was hiking on the Solheimajokull Glacier, where the group donned crampons to trek across the active glacier.
Another group of Benenden students headed off to Kenya for four weeks, to get involved in community and conservation work. They joined a team with two other schools travelling with Camps International, comprising 32 students in total.
While Kenya is well-known for its beach and safari tourism, this tour was quite different. Students helped out in rural villages in Tsavo National Park with plastering, painting, making bricks from mud and spending valuable time with young school children who were delighted to have some entertainment and attention.
They helped to build a house for a bereaved family, slinging adobe at the walls, mixing concrete with water dragged from a standpipe, and spreading pathways for rain runoff. Goat worming was a new experience which caused much hilarity and physical exertion, but keeps the precious animals alive and well.
At Diani Beach, there was a microplastic project, where debris was logged for a statistics bank with a view to improving government support of environmental issues. The beach also provided well-deserved sun-kissed relaxation for two days in comfortable surroundings.
Climbing Mount Kenya was the final challenge scheduled for the team. However, six hours of torrential rain and uncommon temperatures of minus two at base camp, up to minus ten at the summit, sent the group back to camp with advice to discontinue. Shorter treks were completed instead, and the students were able to experience a 1km canopy trek, a walking safari in the National Park and a number of Maasai skills with bows, arrows and spears – not to be taken lightly nor to be repeated at home!
Meanwhile, this year 31 cadets (the largest cohort yet) from Benenden and The John Wallis Church of England Academy’s Combined Cadet Force took part in the summer Adventurous Training (AT) Camp held in Snowdonia.
The week comprised a multi-activity package that included canoeing, climbing, a micro navigation day, walking to the summit of Mount Snowdon and enjoying a day visiting the castle of Caernarfon and the rail station with the UK’s longest name, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. The weather was testing at times and varied dramatically – one group summited Snowdon in glorious sunshine, while the next day another was hit by torrential rain.
Eleven cadets completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition, which puts them in the frame of completing the first level of the award. The week concluded with a visit to Llandudno, with the cadets enjoying some down time at the fair.