Monday
A great start to the residential! The children got into their groups and rooms and have settled in really well. We had a tour of the centre, followed by a hearty dinner of lasagne or hot dogs. The donuts were a real hit! We continued our night with a wonderful campfire with lots of songs and games. The internet is hit and miss, so we will try and upload some of the photos tomorrow! Good night!
Tuesday
Apologies about the delay of the updates – There was a lack of signal and wi-fi on the site! Tuesday was a very soggy day from start to finish! We had a great day out kayaking in torrential rain. When we thought we couldn’t become any more wet, the instructors challenged us to stand on our kayaks, which only ended one way – Head first in the water!
Wednesday
On Wednesday, we were quite lucky with the weather as we managed to stay dry and avoid the rain. Wednesday was our rope activity day. We had Jacob’s Ladder – Which was a tower made from a series of logs which children had to work in teams with 1 rope to ascend, which was really tricky! Throughout the day we also had an obstacle course and low ropes. Most of the children’s favourite came towards the end of the day, where we had a go on the high ropes! All of the children did great to cheer on their team mates and the majority of the tears came from Mr. Rowley!
Thursday
The children were awoken to a variety of strange animal calls in the morning! After breakfast, it was time to get in the water again – This time with canoeing! Fortunately, this was much more of a ‘relaxing’ activity where children had to carry out a number of dares. Ones which included filling their helmets with water and tipping it on their heads! Throughout the day we also played hide & seek in a series of tunnel trails and tried our accuracy with archery. Once we were all showered and changed, it was time for the highly anticipated disco!
Friday
A real feel of the Friday blues when waking up. The children had all of their cases packed and were ready for the final morning of fun! Our first activity on Friday was a selection of problem solving games in the woods. After lots of scratching of their heads and teamwork all groups did really well to solve a range of puzzles. Our final activity was the giant swing – Save the best until last! The children were hoisted up on a bar and had to release themselves to swing towards the trees and river. Another favourite amongst the kids, however the smiles soon turned upside down when we realised we had to start to make our journey back to school!
Overall, it was a fantastic trip with so many experiences and opportunities for the children. We managed to squeeze so much into such a small time and we loved every second of it!
