Kipling Class (Year 6)

We’ve arrived!

Year 6 have arrived safely. We were greeted off the coach by our Group Leader who has been assigned to look after us for the week and we were swiftly taken to our dorms. All rooms are en-suite with either 4,6 or 8 children in a room. Everyone seems happy with their dorm friends so it was a (very long) job well done by myself and Mr Lewis to ensure every child had at least one ‘dorm buddy’ of their choosing in their room.

We have been given a tour of the grounds, discussed safety rules and we’ll soon be off to dinner.

We’ll get back to our bedrooms about 8:30pm in time for freshening up, getting our pajamas on and a bedtime story after which, we’re certain all the children will fall straight to sleep!! 🤞🤞

This evening, our activity is a PGL tournament- a sporty, team competition involving things likes basketball shooting and human skittles. Teams can score points to determine an overall winner.

We were delighted (and somewhat surprised!) that all children were fast asleep by 10:30pm last night! What a treat!  Just as well as our breakfast slot is 7:45am each morning so we were up and out nice and early today.

After breakfast, we had 45 minutes to spare before our first activity so you can imagine the children’s delight when we announced it was going to be used to tidy their dorms ready for room inspections! The tidiest room each morning will get to line up first for lunch and dinner. The competition was fierce!

Today’s activities have consisted of the following: abseiling, archery, rifle shooting, canoeing and climbing. We witnessed some immense bravery and perseverance from the children abseiling, climbing and canoeing and we’re so proud of all the children for challenging themselves regardless of what that looked like. For some, getting to the top of the tower was a challenge in itself as was stepping into a harness or a canoe! Weather permitting, we’ll all get to do the same activities this week. Please keep your fingers crossed for us that the poorer weather predicted for later in the week passes us by!

Three groups got to visit the shop today and the last two groups will go on Thursday. The children were/are itching to spend their pennies!

Our evening activity tonight is Ambush. This is where the group are split into 2 teams. One team goes to hide together as a group in the woods and after 10 minutes, the other team ventures into the woods together to find them. We then swap over. This is always a real favourite!

The food is going down a real treat with last night’s dinner being Katsu Curry, beef lasagne, veggie lasagne or pasta and tomato sauce. There was rice, peas or broccoli available as well as an extensive amount of salad from the salad bar and cake for dessert. All dietary needs were covered and every child ate well and had a full tummy.  Today’s lunch was burger and chips- more clean plates!

The children have been so polite and amazingly kind and caring towards each other which is so wonderful to see.

Suffice to say, the fresh air and exercise worked its magic yesterday as last night, every child was fast asleep by 9:30pm!

Our evening game of Ambush was a lot of fun and the children loved being out in the dark with their torches.

Today, the activities have been slightly different for each group and have included the following: canoeing, coastal walk, giant swing, problem solving, rifle shooting and Jacob’s ladder.  

The giant swing always proves to be a top favourite but it’s really hard work! Two to three children are attached to a large metal bar by their harnesses and are hoisted into the air by the rest of the group. The pulley system for lifting the children into the air requires a lot of muscle! When the children on the swing are as high as they want to go, they pull a rope which releases them and they swing through the air! It’s thrilling and gives that tummy feeling similar to being on a theme park ride.

One of my favorite activities is always the coastal walk. I love to see the children just being ‘kids’- not an electronic in sight and they play games, skim stones, write their names in the sand, hunt for shells and genuinely have a lovely time just hanging out with their friends at the beach.

This evening, if the weather allows, we hope to be outside for a game of Cluedo. This is where the PGL staff are dotted around the grounds and the children work in teams with a map to locate them. Once they find a staff member dressed as a character, they are given a task to complete. On completion, they are given a clue as to who has committed the crime. They then have to use a process of elimination to work out who has committed the crime.

Should the weather not be on our side then alternative indoor games will be arranged for us.

A highlight so far this week has definitely been listening to the comments from the children about their own successes. There is a lot of pride, resilience, perseverance, commitment, challenge and achievement oozing out of our groups and hearing the children celebrating one another’s efforts is so wonderful to experience and share with them.

Can you believe we’re halfway through our trip already!

Oh what a Beautiful Morning? It’s Thursday

We were so lucky to escape the rain yesterday as it didn’t start to drizzle until 5pm. How lucky, we thought, so we decided to chance our luck and take part in outdoor Cluedo. Sadly, Mother Nature had different plans and the rain bucketed down upon us and we got drenched! Thankfully, the children thought this was brilliant fun- outside in the dark, torches on, rain pouring, playing a human version of Cluedo… what could be better?! They didn’t quite think it was so much fun when it came to peeling off soggy socks, sodden shoes and soaked trousers though.

Today, our activities have included the following events for different groups: (some of which were catch-up activities that some groups hadn’t done earlier in the week) zip wire, problem solving, orienteering, Jacob’s ladder, trapeze, the sensory trail, coastal walk and climbing.

Trapeze and zip wire have been the most eagerly anticipated activities so the drizzle today hasn’t dampened our spirits too much and we were delighted to receive a surprise visit from Mr Potter who joined us for breakfast and our first activity.

Despite the weather trying to dampen our spirits, we have braved the elements and done our absolute best to have a brilliant and memorable time. It’s been hard work, tiring, emotional, and physically and mentally exhausting. However, the positives have completely overshadowed any negatives. New friendships have been formed, personal challenges overcome. We’ve tested our nerves and pushed ourselves beyond our comfort zones. We’ve tried new things and realized we are more resilient than we think. Teamwork skills have shone through and the children have had the best possible time.

This trip, of course, would not have been possible without the wonderful team of staff who have given up their time to attend this week.  Huge thanks go to Mr Lewis, Mrs Havord, Miss Lamb, Miss Darvill and Mrs Marks who along with myself have been a tremendous support to the children and have been relentless in their positivity and encouragement.  There are also many members of staff behind the scenes that make this all possible. Miss McGill and Mrs Khan have worked so hard to prepare the paperwork as has Mrs Few in the office. Staff back at school have also gone the extra mile to cover additional duties and keep the school ticking over- what a team!!

We are due back at 3pm on Friday afternoon. Please meet us in the playground. For safety purposes, we won’t dismiss children directly from the coach. Please make sure you collect medication from me before you go home.

Get those washing machines ready- there’s damp and muddy clothes coming home as well as tired but happy children! (They’ll definitely need a scrub-down too!)

Wishing you all a wonderful half term.

Mrs Bell