| Teacher's Blog
This term, the children in upper Key Stage 2 at Sherborne House have had the opportunity to tackle a number of new challenges on their residential trips. This year, Year 5 visited the PGL centre at Liddington in Wiltshire and Year 6 visited Bowles in Kent.
The residential trips give children the chance to participate in activities that broaden and extend their learning outside a classroom setting as well as providing the perfect opportunity for personal development. For Year 6, this included activities such as abseiling, kayaking, climbing, rafting, orienteering and dry slope skiing. Year 5 enjoyed activities such as zip wiring, archery and fencing as well as mountain biking and aeroball (ball games on enclosed trampolines).
All activities foster confidence-building in a safe environment; this helps the children to become more independent, which is an especially important skill for moving onto secondary school. Many of these activities also required teamwork and encourage a greater degree of cooperation and communication; for example, in the buggy building activity for Year 5, the children were only given wooden poles, ropes and large plastic barrels from which to construct a moveable vehicle which had to carry one team member. A variety of designs were built and raced.
The evening activities provide children with different types of challenges and test other skills. For Year 5, for example, a Cluedo solving activity in which PGL staff dressed up in costume and pretended to be various people, giving the children the opportunity to solve a mystery. The last evening culminated in a campfire with toasted marshmallows and songs.
Another of the great benefits of these trips is the quality of the relationships that develop between and among pupils and their teachers. Seeing different children shine in different contexts is a highlight of each residential trip.
Both year groups enjoyed the experience of a residential and the challenges which they had faced. All came back to school tired but proud of their achievements whether it had been reaching the top of the climbing wall or not falling over on the ski slope. They successfully met the new challenges they were set and were able to test and enjoy themselves in various experiences.
Mrs Domone
Year 5 Tutor