Year 6 Residential Blog 2023

After an early start, there was a lot of excitement as the coaches left school heading for the Dorset coastline.  There was plenty of singing - from 80s classics by George Michael and The Backstreet Boys to some of our favourite musical numbers from our Year 6 production, Aladdin Trouble.

On the way we stopped off at Avon Heath Country Park.

Mrs Bell

The journey was long and tiring and quite annoying as everyone was shouting and singing even when we didn't want them to.  The playground at the park was very good fun and we asked (politely of course) if we could borrow a football from a family who were there.  They said yes so we had a great kick around.  

 

When we arrived at the campsite we were feeling very adventurous - we wanted to explore the site and see who we were with in our tents and activity groups. 

 

We went to do slip and slide.  After a few goes I face-planted my cheek on the ground (don't  worry mum - I'm fine!).  It was great fun and everyone got better and better at it with every go.

Bobby - Amethyst Class

We had sausages, potatoes and vegetables for dinner, with a delicious apple pie for dessert.  Then one group did Matrix, and the other went for a hike up Purbeck Ridge.  There were some tired legs but we all made it back with smiles on our faces.

Last night Groups 4, 5 and 6 did 'The Matrix'.  We had to work together as a team to complete a series of challenges and tasks so we could collect points.  Team 4 won!  The 'longest line' task was our favourite.

We were a bit cold when we went to bed.  I was sleeping peacefully and then the wind and rain woke me up . The wind really picked up at midnight.  

Breakfast was delicious - we had toast, beans, bacon, halal sausages and breakfast cereal.  We are now set up ready for our day.

Reyaansh, Nikola, Lily

After breakfast we did a Pioneering activity – we had a make giant catapults and fire them.  Then we did the Nightline – that was great fun because we were blindfolded and we had to go through obstacles and under a net and we had to hold each others shoulders.  It was interesting and fun.

Next we had our packed lunch – the home made brownie was our favourite part.

After lunch we got in some minibuses to the car park, then we walked down a huge hill to the beach.  We had to put our harnesses and helmets on and the instructors set up 5 climbs of different difficulties.  Everyone had a go and we got to the top.

 

Dinner was Chile Con Carne and strawberry cake for dessert.

Abi and Natalia

After breakfast we went to one of the upper fields and we were picked up by a minibus.  We drove for about 25 minutes then had to walked to a big canal then we went on the ferry to go across the get to Poole.  When we arrived we went to Land and Wave Watersports.  We were given our wetsuits and had to put them on.  We played in the park while the paddle boats were being inflated.  We were then given a short guide of what to do.  We carried the paddle boats to the sea and started paddle boating.  Once we reached chest deep into the water we were allowed to stand up and tried jumping off the paddle boats and played lots of different games like ‘Water Wars’ where we had to try and push each other into the water.  We built a human pyramid on the paddle boat and played ‘Would you rather?’, for example we had to say if we preferred McDonalds or Burger King and if you were still climbing onto the boat when the time was up you were out.

After lunch we went to play some beach games – we threw a ball into the sea and the first one to catch it got to throw the ball again.  We were swimming in the sea for quite a while and then we went crabbing – that was the most exciting part of the day.  The seagulls kept trying to steal our food at lunch, and steal the crabs out of our buckets but we didn’t let them.  The instructors had told us that the best spots to find crabs were around the seaweed as they like hiding there.  Altogether we caught 50-60 crabs and some of them were quite big and some were very tiny.  We even found a clear one, which apparently is quite common for crabs but I’ve never noticed them before.

Summer and Zita

Today was really, really fun.  We woke up knowing we were going to have a really fun day of watersports at the beach.  Breakfast was really nice; I had sausages and baked beans which were delicious.  Then we walked over to the place where we got on our minibuses, all took our seats and had a really fun drive.  We walked over to where we were taking our ferry and we looked over the side and saw all the water and fish.  Then we got to the beach area where we were doing our watersports and started off by getting into our wetsuits and our buoyancy aids and helmets.  Next played catch the ball on the beach, which was really fun.  Then we went into the water and got onto the big paddleboards and raced to the finish line on them.  Then we all got into separate groups and went on to our big paddleboards and played loads of fun games – even Mrs Wyman joined in.  We tried to balance on them and played ‘Would you rather?’ and had a really great time.  Next we had our lunch – I had a ham sandwich, cheese and onion crisps (which is the best flavour of crisps) and a muffin.  I gave my apple to my friend.  We had to be careful of the seagulls because they kept swooping down to try and grab our lunch and we had fun chasing them away.  After lunch we went crabbing and I caught a crab which was massive.  One of the crabs that the instructor picked up laid eggs all over the instructor – it was so funny!  Then we came back to the campsites and I took a shower to wash off all the salty water – I felt really refreshed.  Then we had dinner which was really nice, we had chicken pasta with tomato sauce, cheese and vegetables.  We are looking forward to this evening’s activity which is a campfire – I’ve heard a rumour about roasted marshmallows too.

 

By Poppy

 

Our day started off when we were taken to the Bushcraft place in a coach.  Our first activity was building shelters and the guide was really helpful as he explained every single know to us.  He also made it fund as it was competitive and he gave us points which made everyone try harder.  He reminded us about knots you already knew and taught us new ones like the trucker knot.  Then we were taken to make fires, we did it step by step.  First we had to get a spark then we had to get it on some cotton.  That was hard for us so we used charcoal cloth which caught quite quickly when we put it in a ball of hay.  We blew on it and the flames started rising and we put it in the fire pit.  We then mixed powder and liquid together and that made fire too.  We lit the fire and toasted our bread on top of it, which we really enjoyed.  Antonia’s bread got burnt because she left it on too long.  But Akshara’s was perfectly cheesy and turned into a toasty – it was nicer and real treat.  After lunch we played extreme sardines.  Alex (one of the guides) was hiding in the forest and we had to find him – it took ages.  Then we saw a deer in the forest.  After that we learnt more about nature; we learnt about different type of trees, edible mushrooms, poison ivy, and that holly bushes have leaves that get less spiky at the top.  We learnt to recognise different types of poop – the instructor picked it up and showed it to us.  Akshara tried picking it up with a stick.  Then it was archery.  Personally I’m really not good at it but it was really fnd because he made it into a game where the board was a pizza – it was a good game – we lost, but still….. Then we played a game with one arrow each where you got points – each ring was a different amount of points.  After that we went back to camp then we went to dinner which I liked – it was chicken pasta.  Overall it was a really good day and we still have a Night Hike to look forward to. 

Akshara and Khyati

Today we participated in more watersports, climbing and bushcraft, depending on which group we were in.  The weather turned out beautifully this afternoon, although there was some rain at the beach this morning.  

There was lots of fun on paddleboards, making fire, practising our archery skills, climbing and belaying others on climbs, and of course, the children's favourite - crabbing - sometimes it's the simple things.  Although, because of the tides, the children today had to use a different spot for crabbing, they didn't catch as many crabs as the other groups but boy, did they get some whoppers.

Dinner tonight was delicious burgers and potato wedges, with the usual side salad, and cake for desert.  That has given us enough energy for the evening activities, groups 1,2 and 3 are doing Stealth and 4, 5 and 6 are having their campfire.  Lots of fun for all.

Blog written by Mrs Bell today as the children have been busy getting their tents organised and packing as much as they can so we don't have to worry about it in the morning.

The children are all very happy but are very much looking forward to being home.  I'm afraid the general consensus on things they have missed most (from the group of boys I was chatting to earlier) is their computer games - although a couple of children also mentioned having a 'proper' shower would be nice - although the showers here are pretty good for a basic campsite.

A view of our camp from yesterday's sunset for you to enjoy....