St Edmund's

School News

Day One

On a glorious sun shiny day we packaged up Form 5 onto a coach and off to Hindleap Warren in East Sussex.

We arrived just before lunch and were given a tour to familiarise ourselves with the site then settled into our rooms. The teachers were kept entertained by the children making their own beds!

After a picnic lunch, the children headed out on their first activities, team building! Much fun was had through a series of challenges finding their way blindfolded through the, you guessed it, blind trail, working together to navigate a ball from one side of a board to the other without it dropping through a holes, getting across the ‘lilly-pads’ with strict rules about footwork and getting Jerry, the golf ball, to hit the bell at the end of the course using only a few sections of guttering. Brains certainly worked hard along with the children’s communication skills!

Next up all the children clambered into harnesses and headed up! Climbing tower for 5S and crate stack for 5N. A good grip and good balance were the order of the afternoon and the children rose to the challenges and achieved brilliantly.

A tasty dinner and then onto the evening activity of egg drop. Armed with basic resources and a ‘shop’ that dealt in the currency of jokes from which more resources could be bought, the children designed and made protection for their egg that was then dropped from the top of the climbing tower. It was great fun but we regret to inform you, not all eggs survived!

As we type, the, very tired, children are snuggling down and lights are going out. Here’s hoping for a good night’s sleep ready for adventures in the forest tomorrow.

Day Two

Mr Southey rose with the sun this morning capturing some beautiful sunrise pictures.

Remarkably or perhaps unsurprisingly, some children had started their day long before that in an hour that began with a 5…

Once everyone was properly up, and breakfasted the children headed out to their first activity: 5S tackled the high ropes of the pentagon while 5N went into the woods to build shelters. After that, the two forms swapped activities before lunch.

After fuelling for a big afternoon of the much anticipated Forest Adventure they ventured into the woods again. And an adventure it was indeed. Noisily through the forest they went to scare off the Drop Bears. Then into the river, the sticky, squelchy, squishy river, more mud at times than water!

While a couple children may have referred to this activity as forest torture is has been rated by most of them this evening as the highlight of the day.

The staff have matched the children in all they’ve done, and their bodies know about it! They are hopeful that this evening’s bedtime will be quieter with children that are equally tired.