At 6:30am on Wednesday morning, the coaches arrived at school and parents waved their children off on their adventure! The group travelled by ferry to the island of Bintan, and after a short transfer, arrived at the Loola Adventure Resort.
At 6:30am on Wednesday morning, the coaches arrived at school and parents waved their children off on their adventure! The group travelled by ferry to the island of Bintan, and after a short transfer, arrived at the Loola Adventure Resort.
Loola Adventure Resort is in a beautiful location, in Bintan’s rural heartland, along its most picturesque coastal strip. Once settled, students dived straight in to their first activities, whether that may have been kayaking, zip-lining, rock climbing, completing the Sky Walk and Boom Net or even participating in the Community Involvement Programme at a local school.
Having completed initial activities, students were able to return to Loola where they enjoyed delicious food, completed team-building activities and enjoyed the facilities around the resort, including playing on the football and basketball pitch or even having a go on the obstacle course!
Over the course of the next two days, students were able to take part in all of the activities and felt a real sense of achievement, whether that was conquering their fear of heights on the Sky Walk or meeting local students when paving the road outside their school.
It was a memorable week, showing how well the Secondary students work together and how they strive to be ambitious in every situation.
Read our students stories and memories from the trips below:
Secondary School Orientation Camp Diaries
Romaysa (Y7)
Dear Diary,
I’ve had an AMAZING time these three last days!
I went to the year 7-11 Secondary School Orientation Camp; there was so much to do but so little time. My favourite activities were: the sky walk, pizza making, downtime, boat and boom net, painting, road paving, kayaking, dragon boating and the obstacle course.
My top three favourites were the skywalk, boat and boom net and the disco.
It all started when I woke up at 5am, got ready and drove to school with my parents and grandma. We arrived at school at about 6.20am, walked to the Cooper Hall and looked for my group. I found my friends and we chatted and took photos. Later we were told to sit in our classes and our parents had to go.
Next, we went to our bus, drove to the ferry terminal, went through immigration and rode on the ferry to Bintan, Indonesia. When we arrived we split up into vans and were driven to the resort; that’s when our adventure began.
My most favourite activity of all was the sky walk because I had to climb up a tall ladder, walk across a beam and jump! I especially loved it because it challenged me and I faced my fear of heights. It was also something new and different for me to experience.
‘Thanks’ Mr Lim for making this happen.
Adith (Y7)
Dear Diary,
It all started on Wednesday at dawn when I woke up everyone in my family at 4 o’clock in the morning! We brushed our teeth, got changed, ate breakfast and set off. Once we reached Dover Court we got on a bus and set off for the ferry terminal to leave for Indonesia. The ferry was big, white and had tvs!
Finally we got off the ferry and I got in a car with my friends. We reached Loola Resort World and had lunch. After that my group did road paving, had dinner and went to sleep.
Day 2:
Today we had water activities. We went on a dragon boat, which is like a kayak except there are 8 people rowing. We also did some kayaking back from an island. We got dry and played for a while and then set off for the flying fox. I was the third person to volunteer. At first I thought that it was not scary and I climbed up the ladder really quickly without looking down. Once I got to the top I started to have a change of mind…but of course I still did it! We had lunch and set off for the boom net. I jumped off the boat about 20 times into the net. It was GREAT! We had dinner and went to sleep.
Day 3:
I thought that today was great fun because we did the sky walk. We had to climb up a ladder as tall as a coconut tree! I was the first to try, I climbed up really fast, not looking down as usual but I still made it. Phew what a relief!
After the jump I straight away went to pizza making. I am surprisingly good at making pizza and finished second place in the pizza making race.
After that we went rock climbing, I went first, came down first and for the first time I got to do it twice. As usual I started having second thoughts when I reached the top.
After all the activities I started packing to go home and then went to buy some souvenirs for my family. For Mum and Dad some necklaces and for my brother and me, a key chain each and a bracelet.
We finally set off for the ferry terminal and the journey home did not seem so long. We got back to Dover Court and saw our families.
Thank you to all the staff for making this trip happen. A special ‘thanks’ to Mr Lim for organising the trip.
Charles (Y7)
Dear Diary,
On Wednesday, 16th September we went to the Loola Resort in Indonesia. We stayed on an island that is quite small. We all got there by ferry. When we arrived, I saw a football pitch, an obstacle course and the beach. Just after that we all got into our groups, I was put into group 4. A few minutes later we were in our dorms, but the dorm was very old. Then we went off in our groups and did our activities. I did one wet activity, which was kayaking. It was really fun. After that we got to do whatever we wanted. I played a bit of football and then I went on the obstacle course, but just as I got there it was dinner time. For dinner we had rice and something else that I never had before (it was nice). A few hours later, it was 10:00pm and time to go to bed, but I couldn’t get to sleep because someone was talking and the teachers came in. I didn’t go to sleep until 2:00am in the morning. I just lay there and shut my eyes.
In the morning we got up at 6:50 and we started doing activities, which were boomnet, climbing and dragon-boating. My favourite was boomnet. In the afternoon we made pizza. I put sausages and cucumber on top of mine. In the evening we had a campfire and a disco, which was really fun. I was really tired but I still couldn’t sleep. On the last day we did some more activities and after lunch we left for the ferry back home. There were lots of cats at the resort. One was called Alan and I wished I could have taken him home! It was nice to get home and see mum, dad and my two brothers.
Abigail (Y9)
Dear Diary
Today I am travelling to Bintan, Indonesia with DCIS. We are staying at Loola Adventure Resort.
I arrived at school at 6.25am (too early!). We got on the coach and headed for Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to depart for Bintan. We took 1 hour 45 minutes to get to Bintan. We went through customs and got in taxis to Loola Resort.
We had lunch on arrival and then got ready for our 2 hour Kampong Walk and boat and boomnet activities. After an afternoon of fun we had dinner, a group reflection then it was lights out!
When I woke up we went down to breakfast then did the flying fox, kayaking, dragon boat racing and we all agreed that they were fantastic activities. After lunch we did rock climbing, sky walk, pizza making and then played volleyball for about 2 hours. After this we prepared for the disco/ bonfire, it was AMAZING!
The next day we woke up bright and early and set off to do some CIP after breakfast. This activity was fun but was also inspirational. After CIP we packed up, had lunch and set off to the ferry. As I boarded the ferry I thought ‘All I need is some air con, a burger and fries!’
I would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Mr Lim as without him none of this would have been possible.
Louise (Y9)
Dear Diary
Last week I was on a camp in Indonesia with the school. I have never been there before because I have just moved to Singapore. It was lots of fun! We went kayaking, rock climbing and many other interesting activities. I enjoyed the sky walk, many people were quite scared about it but I was more excited. I especially enjoyed the jumping part, it was such fun!
The boat trip was fun and the teachers were also happy and so the trip was nice.
I learned a lot on the camp; to be honest I think I learned a lot of English and to be more confident when speaking English with my friends. I also learned how to rock climb and I thought it was amazing.
On the day before the disco we went to a school in Indonesia to build a road close to the school. To be honest it was hard work but I still enjoyed it because it was a good thing to do. The students in the school were wondering what on earth was going on and they were curious about us too.
The best thing on the camp was the disco. It was fun, we got to sit wherever we wanted to. The food and the music were good and it was a lot of fun. It was really nice to be at the beach, so it was great.
I have to thank the staff who were on the camp and Mr Lim for organising it because it was such fun and through this camp I made more friends at school.
Sound bites from Emma (Y9)
‘………..my group paved roads, this was very challenging but fun.’
‘……………we had a disco; it was awesome!’
‘…….rock climbing was super challenging and I got so high up, I was really proud of myself.’
Sound bites from Hilda (Y9)
‘I think the trip was real fun and interesting. I would like to go to a similar resort again.
