Immersion Trip

Our Junior 6 students departured to the Immersion Trip

This year's theme is: The Glorious Highland Games and they are ready for them!

The students joined a clan and helped design a crest for their group.

Then each group built a witch and burnt her in order to bring good luck to the games.

They will learn the Scottish dances and sports associated with the highland games and also bake and taste some Scottish food.

Throughout the camp they will learn songs and slang that are typical of Scotland. 

The camp will end with the final tournament as the warriors paint their faces before playing the sports and deciding who is victorious. 

Our students have been divided into 4 clans: McLaren, Gordon, Anderson & Campbell.

A bit of History about the Clan system…

Clans dominated the highlands of Scotland as well as other areas which at the time were remote from the centres of Scottish life and government. They were forged out of different tribes based on family ties. The word clan comes from the gaelic "clann", which means children or descendants. There would always be a clan chief, who took on the responsibility of looking after the people in his area. 

The chief and his children would be the most important figures, but many other clansmen were not blood relations. They would simply be people who lived locally and looked to him for protection. Nevertheless, the clan ties and loyalty were extremely strong - in the case of the Lordship of the isles for instance, the Clan Donald effectively established its own kingdom, with only tenuous ties to the rest of Scotland. 

Most Highlanders would have felt allegiance to their clan first and their country second. They believed in it so much that they were prepared to die for it - which is just as well, because that's often exactly what happened. 

The whole history of the clan system is characterized by feuds, and the chief had to be able to call on his people to serve in his army when he needed them. Clans weren't particularly sophisticated societies, but they worked well enough. The chief was the undisputed ruler, and all his people would have genuine affection for him and trust him implicitly.