C19 Engaging the learners and whanau through camp experiences

I have actively lead and organised school camps to Auckland for students and whanau. This has meant organinsing accommodation, visits while on camp to museums, community service projects and the general logistics of a multi day camp a long distance from home. An important aspect of these camps was communicating clearly and regularly with our whanau, many of who were very nervous about their child being such a long distance away from home for a number of nights for the first time.

I used a range of strategies to communicate the organisation of the camp so the whanau were fully informed and supportive.

These included:

• Letters home - including the cost, dates, timetable for the camp, gear list and key safety information. 
• Information in the school newsletter.
• Posts on my class blog - this was regularly update with information and gear lists. 
• Posters on the classroom doors
• Information evening - a chance for whanau to ask any questions they may have had. 

Below are some examples of the above communications. 

Poster on classroom doors.

Presentation to parents.

Screenshot from a class blog. 

A key outcome of this was that almost every child attended camp and the parents were very appreciative of the experiences that their child had.  I also noticed that the positive relationships forged with students on camp flowed into the following year.