Day 1
9.00 Two green minibuses pulled out of the school gates. We were off!
Masses of kit was unloaded and left in the playroom. The lead instructor, Greg checked our forms and then organised the children into groups. They were going to try two activities, rock climbing and the Flying Kiwi. The children were nervous, not knowing what to expect. Many gazed upwards and gulped.
“My achievement is when I pushed myself to the limit to climb a little bit more. I was a bit sad when I let go but I felt very proud.” – Eleanor.
“Rock climbing really pushed me to the limit with the box. I also conquered one wall only using the green rock.” - Charlie Perry. [The box was like a ledge jutting out.] “It was great I got to the top inside.” – Emily.
“Today was amazingly fun. The Flying Kiwi felt like you were a bird. We had so much to take part in we were never bored.” – Lucinda.
“Today was excellent. My highlight was the rock climbing, my target was to complete it and I did! By the end of it I was crying for two reasons, I had completed it, I am incredibly scared of heights.” - Ellis.
“ Flying the Flying Kiwi you get a superb view of the landscape and a wedge.” – Joshua.
“The Flying Kiwi was insane.” – Cameron.
“I was a bit scared before I did the jump but it was a lot of fun after.” – Alexander Gladen.
We were all incredibly lucky to have the support of Mrs Fagan who organised our food. For lunch we had jacket potatoes with tuna, tuna mayonnaise, chicken, cheese and salad, yoghurts and fresh fruit.
The children slipped and slopped sun cream, grabbed their water bottles and went off to the mountain boarding or archery. Masses of praise and encouragement from the instructors and peers lifted everyone’s spirits. Games helped to maintain concentration and they particularly liked a challenge set during the archery session where scores related to exotic travel for some with an abundance of spending money or excursions in a wheelie bin with paddles and 1p to spend.
“I got the highest score in my group.” - Ketak
Mountain boarding – “Here are the three words that describe this activity, fast, fun and furious.” - Christopher Thomas.
Oakwood only provide activity sessions for six hours a day, so whilst the children were busy some of the teachers cleaned, prepared food and washed up - a real chore this year as the sterilising unit had broken. We’ll use more paper plates next year!
We were incredibly lucky with the weather and after a quick snack Mr Pearn and Mr Cadden organised football games on the bottom field and a competition in the ‘cage’. Mrs Berryman played badminton and circle games finishing with netball skills. It was Maddie’s birthday so we played Pass the Parcel kindly sent in by Mum.
“ I had lots of cup cakes on a stand and I had to blow the candles out because it was my birthday.” - Maddie
One of the main aims of our Golden Activity week is to promote and encourage teamwork. The activities were a real leveller and children were encouraged to step out of their comfort zone with many surprising results. Each child benefited from the supportive comments of their peers and we were enormously proud of Year 4.
Once dorm prizes were remembered there was a mad rush after showers to tidy up stray items. The children completed diaries, had milk and biscuits and then read. Most rooms were quiet during the night and considerate towards others!
Day 2
Mrs Fagan and Mrs Parry-Jones arrived really early to help with breakfast and we feasted on cereals, croissants, toast, fruit, yoghurts and fresh orange or apple juice.
We now had three group activities, low ropes, the Leap of Faith and the high wires and crate building.
“When I went for the second turn on the high wires Greg said I only had 3 minutes to get round. Fortunately I got round with 5 seconds to spare – 2.55.” – Zara
“I was nervous and it was scary.” – Alexandra Edwards. [Alex attacked each task with enthusiasm even though she has only recently recovered from a broken arm! What a gutsy performance.]
“Today we did the Leap of Faith and everybody went on it. It started to wiggle but it was perfectly safe. When you got to the top you had to stand up and jump to the trapeze!” – Isabelle.
You had to climb on a big wooden pole nearly as high as the sun, do all your might and then jump to a wooden hanging pole.” – Ellie.
“I am very proud of myself because I climbed up a pole and had to jump as far as I could to a trapeze and I made it across.” – Jack Carling.
“Rifle shooting was amazing I got a bulls eye. It was hard to aim.” – James.
I wasn’t very good at it the first time because I was not aiming properly. I had another go and I shot 3 bulls eyes.” Lucinda.
“………..on the high ropes I was near the end and I was scared. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it but I pushed myself and I did it!” – Eleanor.
Today wasn’t as good as yesterday because of the HIGH ROPES. I blame that it scared me to death when I was 10 meters off the ground. The best activity I did was probably when we did mountain boarding again. I was so good at it. I was the only one who got to go higher!” - Maria
For lunch the children had pasta with a choice of sauces and peas, sweet corn and salad. They left room for the apple or rhubarb crumble that they had prepared on Monday at school. Served with custard or crème fraiche. They’d even made some for the teachers and it was delicious. Thank you.
The children picked their favourite activity to return to in the afternoon. Many wanted to try the Leap of Faith to see if they could improve past performances and some went off to attempt advanced mountain boarding.
“Today was great just like yesterday. My biggest achievement was probably jumping from the totem pole and completing the jump to the hanging trapeze. These two days I have been very proud of myself for trying my hardest in each activity I did and completing some of them. I really think I rose to the challenge.” - Ellis
“Third time lucky, yes I did it like they always say.” – Christopher Thomas.
“Today we really had to push ourselves to the limit.” – Harry.
Mr Pearn and Mr Cadden offered to organise a cricket game and those who didn’t want to play happily amused themselves using the equipement we had brought. Throwing and catching sticky Velcro balls was very successful.
We had a quick snack and more liquid and then Kirsty arrived with the barbecue. Mrs Fagan set up her chocolate fountain and the children made skewers of fresh fruit and then daubed them [and themselves] in chocolate.
Year 4 were running out of energy and after diaries and reading they happily went to bed. A quieter night!
Day 3
Breakfast, cleaning, packing, stuffing big sleeping bags into small cases, picking up socks and washing things. The teachers cleaned the rooms, the green buses scooped us up and before we knew it we were back at school.
“There were lots of things like working together; the whole thing was so fun.” – Jamie.
Mr Skepper was kind enough to spend time taking photographs of the children and we are really looking forward to seeing them.
Now for more fun activities and the PLAY.
I would like to thank both the children and staff who accompanied our trip and made it so successful.
Judy Phillips
