By Ishita N and Isabella P, Year 10 Journalist Leaders

On 13th January the Year 10s got to go on a paintballing trip at Go Action Forest in Surrey to relax and do some team building. We took a coach there and once we got to the venue, we teamed up and got ready to fight! 

It felt like we were preparing to go into war, with helmets and overalls being handed to us, guns being loaded up and final prayers being recited. With only a few of us having paintballing experience, we had no idea what to expect but we were ready to take many hits on the field. During paintballing we got to see sides to people we had never seen: everyone became ruthless, calculating and covered in yellow splatters of paint. Even the teachers got in on the action and we saw Miss Cagnino and Ms Penney shoot everyone down with the paintballs. We eventually got a well-deserved break from the mud and paint and were treated to pizzas before returning to the battlefield. Our favourite round was Stronghold, where one team had a castle to defend and were stationed all over it, ready to ambush anyone who approached, and the other teams were armed with riot shields and a paint grenade to get into the castle within 10 minutes. 

No bullets were spared: we had to be constantly vigilant and defend the castle with all our effort, but we were no match for some of the teachers, whose strategies and tactics took their teams to victory. Everyone got involved in the games, running around, hiding behind barriers and unleashing yellow pellets upon the sight of movement. All of us who got hit eagerly awaited the shouts of ‘respawn’ so we could get back into the game and no one left the arena untouched by paint. There was a constant rush of adrenaline throughout all of the matches and a thrill in the atmosphere. 

At the end of the day, final scores were announced and the fiercest soldiers among us were awarded with dog tags as a token of our bravery. It was a fantastic day out which really brought us all together as a year group and gave us the chance to make great memories. We can’t wait for the next trip!