Residential 2019

I can't believe that this time tomorrow we will be home. The children have been amazing yet again. Today's activities involved a lot of team work. On the sensory trail, while wearing blacked out goggles, the children had to navigate their whole team around the course. There were also a couple of rope activities (vertical challenge and high ropes). The kids are now getting the hang of putting their harnesses on and belaying for each other.  This evening, they are playing Capture the Flag and when they get back at 9pm, they will need to finish packing. I've already found several odd socks that are very unlikely to find their way home. On the plus side, it's been a warm day and we've had all their wet soggy kakaying clothes on the washing line! Wish us luck with the packing! See you all tomorrow afternoon! We will be putting a lot more photos on the website when we are back in school.   

I'm writing this while watching the children flinging their shoes across the field in a 'Wacky Races' competition. We now have some great ideas for sports day! We've had a fab day with lots of thrills. All children plucked up the courage to go on the big swing and the final kayaking group had a great morning on the lake. Some groups tried climbing, fencing and archery this afternoon. Sorry for the brief message tonight. We have limited internet access and I'm trying to send this from my phone. Photos will follow later this evening.

It was a very early start for some of the children. They seem to be allergic to sleep. This morning it was sun cream weather and this afternoon we wished we’d brought thermals.  We started off the day by improving our map skills (orienteering) and learnt about surviving in a forest (building dens, sending SOS signals, carving tent pegs and starting fires). Later on in the day, half of the group made a great splash kayaking. After the expert tuition from the PGL staff, they said the best bit was falling in on purpose. Mrs Bonney was not so keen about wearing a helmet, but James I said, ‘That’s the best face ever!’   High ropes has been the most challenging activity today. We survived the cold, wet conditions at the top of the 12 metre tower and the children mustered up all their courage to traverse the obstacles around the course. Many of them are very proud of themselves. I'll update you again tomorrow.

We’ve arrived safely and the teachers are exhausted already! After a noisy journey, the children were shown their bedrooms and we had a tour of the site. Dinner was chicken korma or fish fingers (some had a mixture of both!), finished off with a doughnut or fruit. Yum! As I write this the children are enjoying a good sing song around a campfire. These songs usually involve crazy actions and annoying lyrics, which get stuck in your head and we’ll all be singing them for the next 6 months (Mrs Bonney included!). They will inevitably come back smelling of smoke and hopefully worn out, so that we can get a good night sleep. Breakfast each day is at 7.15am, so it’s an early start tomorrow. Our activities tomorrow are survival skills, orienteering, high ropes and kayaking.