The Salvation Army LNE SUMMER SCHOOL 2013 Dear Delegate, We’re really excited that you have decided to come to Summer School this year! It’s not too long until we’ll all be meeting up at Gilwell Park and setting out on our grand adventure together! In this letter I hope to give you all the information that you will need to know for Summer School this year so that you can make sure that you know you have everything that you might need with you. How to get there The venue has good road links and the address is: Gilwell Park – Scout Activity Centre Chingford London E4 7QW Registration – Saturday 24th August from 11.00am to 12.00pm This is the time that you will arrive, get signed in, meet your option leaders and get settled into your accommodation. You will also be able to pay money into the bank and hand in any medication to the school nurse. Medication Our school nurse, Liz, will be on hand throughout the week to make sure you’re fit and healthy and if you feel a bit under the weather at any point, she’s the person to see. During registration you will hand in your medication to be looked after by her. If you would prefer to look after and administer your own medication during the week, then you and your parent (if you are under 18) will need to sign a consent form at registration to say that you will look after it and take it responsibly. We cannot allow you to look after your medication unless the form is signed. If you have an inhaler, please bring two with you. One to keep with you and one as a back-up to stay with Liz. This will ensure there’s a spare available in case of an emergency. Thanks! Equipment The following is a list of everything you should need for Summer School this year: •
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Clothes – Bring a range of clothing, including some old clothes that you don’t mind getting messy as there are some outside activities and activities where you may get wet! You will need a coat (preferably waterproof) and some shoes that you can run around in. Towels All bedding – Including a pillow and sleeping bag (or duvet and sheets) Bible
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Medication – if required Toiletries Torches – You will need these. Please check the batteries. Equipment for main option – i.e. instrument, football boots etc. Please note that all equipment is brought to Summer School at your own risk, so please look after it! Posh Night clothes Old ‘throw away’ clothes – Have a clean out of your wardrobe and bring along any old clothes that you no longer want. Please only bring clothes you don’t mind being destroyed!
Camping If you are over 18 and have chosen to camp this year please remember to bring your tent, sleeping apparatus and torch! Or you’ll be chilly… Posh Night and Theme Night Once again there will be our posh night where you can dress up in your fanciest frocks (or trousers etc if you prefer) and enjoy a slap up meal together! It’s always a nice night and a chance to be served by the Summer School team. We won’t be having the usual theme night this year, so you don’t need to worry about finding a fancy costume. However, in it’s place we’ll be doing something a little different so please bring along some old clothes from your wardrobe that you don’t mind being utterly destroyed! We’ll have some spares too, but please bring some if you can. Final Celebration – Thursday 29th August at 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start Every year we have a chance for you guys (the delegates), team members, families and friends to celebrate everything that has gone on during the week. This year will be no different! We hope that mums and dads, friends and family will all be able to join us and see what you’ve been working on over the week. If they wish to come, tickets will be £2.50 on the door and all are welcome. There is car parking available on site and we’ll have stewards to direct visitors to where they need to be. We anticipate the final celebration to last no more than 2 hours, and we hope to have a campfire afterwards so if any parents and friends would like to stay a little longer and spend some time chatting with the young people or the team about the week over a cup of hot chocolate, they will be very welcome. Behaviour Policy In order to maintain your safety and the safety of others at Summer School, a behaviour policy will be in place. A warning system will be running throughout the week which means that any serious and significant breaking of the rules will result in a written warning from me. Should any person get three written warnings they will have to go home immediately and no refund will be given. Some examples of ‘serious and significant rule breaking’ include consistent and intentional disregard for the summer school rules, criminal damage, persistent bullying, etc. This list is not exhaustive. Please note that purposefully breaking the physical boundaries of the school (i.e. going where you’re not allowed to!) may be considered ‘serious and significant rule breaking’. We will make sure you have a copy of the rules and let you know where they are at the beginning of the week. We’ve had no problems in the last 6 years or so, so we’re sure there won’t be any problems this year either with such a magnificent group of young people! Spiritual Disciplines Each year at Summer School, at the heart of all we do is worship, bible study and prayer. In our small groups, the focus for our thinking this year will be following on from something that was introduced at Youth Councils this year. The idea of Spiritual Disciplines. Spiritual Disciplines are like a work out for your spirit. They help us grow in on our relationship with God and others. We’ll be looking at a number of these during the week in many different ways. It’ll be great!
Football Each year we have a school football tournament (as well as football played in the Sport option). If you wish to take part (and all ages and genders can play) please bring some appropriate clothing. However, to reduce the chance of injury, no studded football boots or blades will be allowed for use in the football tournament or in the Sport option. SWAPIT! workshop One of the workshops during the week will be an opportunity to try out one of the other options. Please bear this in mind when packing and bring something appropriate to wear for the option that you’d like to try. For example, if you’d like to try sport, remember to bring some appropriate shoes/clothing, or if you’d like to try art, perhaps you would like to bring some of your own brushes? Similarly, if you want to try brass, please bring a brass instrument. If you want to try the drama, choral or brass option as your SWAPIT! choice, please drop me an email with which of these you’d like to try as we need to make sure we have the right music and scripts for you all. Thanks. Phew! I think that’s everything! If you need to know anything else, please get in touch and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. We look forward to seeing you on the day! Thanks for your time. God bless,
B Still Ben Still Divisional Youth Officer 01245 383007 Ben.still@salvationarmy.org.uk