Tired but elated Year 5 (and staff) return from Carroty Wood
I know parents of Year 5 will have been keeping up with developments ‘in the field’ over the last few days, but I thought that I would make a news story about the Year 5 residential.
My thanks go to Miss Dunn, Mrs Winton, Ms Tomei, Mr Spriggs, Mrs Hutchinson, Mrs Fairfowl, Mrs Burr and Mrs Brown for planning and leading such a memorable school journey. Make sure you catch up on that sleep you missed at the weekend!
Miss Dunn takes up the story:
DATE LINE: Monday 20th March, 2023
‘We have had an amazing first day on our Year 5 residential. We arrived just before lunchtime and headed straight to one of the lodges to eat our lunches. After that, we got to visit our rooms and start to unpack and attempt to make up our beds…we won’t say which way round it was but let’s just say that one lodge successfully managed to make their beds look pristine while the other did require the intervention of Mrs Hutchinson, Mr Spriggs and Mrs Brown to be useable!
Our first two activities saw groups take on rock climbing, abseiling, the great escape (low ropes), bush craft shelter building and BMX biking. We were really impressed at the bravery, resilience and teamwork displayed by the children. There were lots of smiles and cheers as challenges were overcome and new records set. One group returned decidedly muddier than the others after taking on ‘the great escape’ and a few children landing in that muddy swamp that we showed you on the slideshow!
Everyone had definitely built up an appetite for dinner and our roast dinner and treacle sponge was demolished quickly before trips to the tuck shop started to be made. Various sweet treats, cuddly toys, sunglasses and stationery were purchased and then everyone relaxed in the common room playing games or doing crafts.
Bedtime is now very much in full swing with just the last few children being reminded to stop talking…we are sure you can predict if your child is one of these! With four activities on the agenda for tomorrow, we are hoping that everyone will be properly tired out and fall asleep as their head hits the pillow – although that may just be the adults!’
DATE LINE: Tuesday 21st March, 2023
‘What a fabulous second day we have had at Carroty Wood! There are too many personal highlights/accomplishments to mention but we hope your children will come home full of many stories, memories and proud moments to share with you tomorrow. On behalf of all the adults I would just like to say how proud we are of the numerous displays of kindness, bravery, resilience, determination and fun that have taken place today. There may have been tears shed by the adults throughout the day both in laughter and from being so touched and proud of things we have witnessed. The children certainly have been a credit to both the school and yourselves.
All groups took part on the high ropes today and this was definitely a feature of some of these special key moments mentioned above. Children leapt from the ‘leap of faith’, collaborated on the ‘Jacob’s ladder’, tested their balance on tightropes and scaled a variety of heights. Those who were less keen on heights supported us in being photographers and helped capture some of these magic moments. There were many children who attempted challenges several times and each time gained in confidence and went ‘one step further’. When fear struck, the children on the ground cheered them on and celebrated in everyone’s successes which undoubtedly made a difference in helping children overcome challenges.
Other activities today involved three of the following for each group: pedal go-karts, BMX biking, abseiling, archery, climbing, bush craft shelter building and ‘The Great Escape’. I personally apologise in advance for the muddy sacks of clothing that are returning to certain members of myself and Mrs Brown’s group as some children decided to take things to the next level with a bit of mud diving!
Breakfast, lunch and dinner today have all been demolished with increasing speed and a growing appetite. Although tonight’s dinner of lasagne was absolutely delicious, plain pasta won out with many in the end and even the lasagne lovers were keen for additional courses of pasta – we were determined that hungry stomachs would be full. Trips to the tuck shop have been widely enjoyed and snacks bought plus our choc ice pudding formed the refreshments for this evening’s talent show.
The talent show kicked off with some film skits performed by teachers and directed by Mrs Burr. We definitely have some am-dram talent amongst the staff! Mrs Winton’s depiction of Hermione was so convincing that everyone was able to join in in reciting the lines. Following this, we had an array of performances by the children who wished to be involved. This included: singing, magic tricks, bottle flipping, thumb wars, table tennis skills and rubix cube solving. Great support was shown from the audience throughout and we really enjoyed seeing children perform with such skill, good humour, resilience and confidence. We ended the evening programme with the ‘After 8 game’. After 8 mints were positioned on foreheads and then everyone had to work the mint into their mouths without using their fingers. Much laughter took place and quite a few wet wipes were needed for the facial clear up!
Bedtime tonight has been a much quicker affair with children not making any noise at all (in the boys’ lodge at least) after lights out so we think we have succeeded in tiring them out. Some attempts have been made at packing tonight and sorting clean and dirty/wet clothing but it’s probably best to say to have your washing machines ready to go on their return.
Tomorrow morning, we will have our two final activities and then start to make our way back to school after lunchtime and clear up. Although the children have had an amazing time, we know they will be so happy to see you all.’
