Year 6 Residential 2023

Watch this space for information about our Year 6 residential 2024!

🧳 Diary of the year 6 travellers!! 🧳 
Day 1 - Monday

Well - here we go! It’s another year 6 residential, with a fabulous bunch of children! 👧 👦 

We started the day with a movie 🎥 in school while the teachers helped us check our bags - we watched the new Space Jam movie - Bugs Bunny 🐰 made us laugh! 😂 

At 10:45 we got to choose ANY snack we wanted - what a treat!! ❤️ Lots of yummy crisps, yoghurts and chocolates being munched 😋 before a run 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♂️ around the playground to burn off some energy!

At 11.15 (after a quick loo break 😁) we gathered in the hall to get our hats 🧢, sunflower lanyards 🌻 and suitcases 🧳 ready to go to the airport ✈️.

Mrs Sullivan 👩🏻‍🏫 went ahead to meet us there. We got off the buses 🚌 and took our cases to check in. The adults helped us get our tickets 🎫 and we watched the bags leave on the conveyor belt. It was all VERY exciting! 😆

We waved goodbye 👋 to Mrs Sullivan 👩🏻‍🏫 and headed through security 👮‍♀️👮👮‍♂️. Some people had to go through the scanner and poor Christine had to empty the entire medical bag!! 🚑

When we got to departures, we filled our water bottles🚰 and waited to board the plane ✈️. This is where the excitement really hit in!!

We took off ✈️ at around 12.55 but suddenly, the pilot 👨‍✈️ told us we had to turn back! Some birds 🐦 had tried to grab a lift on the wing of the plane so an engineer 👷‍♀️ had to check it was ok👌🏻. Luckily, the birds 🐦 were ok, as was the plane ✈️ so we could leave again! So exciting to do a double take off on our first school residential!

We landed in Bristol airport and walked to get our suitcases 🧳. The belt was loud and the airport was busy but we were amazing, following all the adults and making great choices! 👍🏻 

Once we had our bags, it was time to get the bus 🚌. Our bus was HUGE!!! We could all have individual seats 💺  if we wanted! It was nice and cool ❄️ and the seats were very comfy… some of us even grabbed a snooze 😴!

We had a lovely bus driver who pointed out fun things on our journey, like wind turbines and our next stop - McDonalds 🍟!! 

We had just enough time for a quick burger 🍔 or chicken nuggets 🍗 and obviously had to collect the all important free toy 🧸!! Then it was back to the bus for the final leg of the journey.

We arrived at Calvert at around 6.30pm and went straight for dinner. Tonight’s choice was chilli con carne 🍛 or carbonara 🍝. We then had chocolate brownie for dessert 😋!!

Finally, we had a wander around the centre, getting a chance to play on the swings and a short walk through the nature area 🌳. We all bundled to bed 🛌, and despite some big talk (!) pretty much everyone was fast asleep by around half ten 🕥.

Tomorrow the real adventure begins - we can’t wait to share all our stories with you!

Good night 😴 
Love from a very sleepy 🥱 year 6!
😁

🧳 Diary of the year 6 travellers! 🧳

Day 2 - 16th May 2023

Oh my goodness! What a day! The sun ☀️ has been shining on us all day and we have had a wonderful time 😁. Our morning 🌅 started slowly with the children 👦🧒👧 waking when they were ready. Most of us were up by half past 7 🕢 but some cheeky monkeys 🙈 got up to brush their teeth at half past 5 🕠!!! They were gently guided to snooze 😴 for a bit longer!! 😂

Once we were all up it was time for a wash 🧼. We also cleaned our teeth 🪥 🦷 and chose our cool ‘threads’🎽👖 for the day (can you spot the lingo creeping in!!). We met for breakfast 🍳 at twenty five past eight and sat down at our table in the conservatory. At half eight 🕣 the hot food was served!! 😋 We had a choice of scrambled eggs 🥚, sausage 🌭, mushrooms 🍄, hash browns and toast 🍞. There was also cereal 🥣, fruit 🍏 🍎 🍌 🍊 and yoghurt. Some children chose a fruit juice 🧃 to go with their breakfast, but lots of us drank water🚰 or milk 🥛.

Once we completed some serious carb loading, we headed back to the houses 🏘️ to chill and get prepared for the day. We checked schedules, put on suncream and did the usual pre activity toilet check 🚽. Everyone met at ten to ten, ready to find out our groups. We were split into 2 groups, Croyde and Mortehoe and went off to our first activities.

Each group did the same activities, just the opposite way round! One activity was rock climbing 🧗‍♀️. Because it was a beautiful day ☀️, we spent the entire time, climbing outside 🌳. The sun shone down as we were hoisted, belayed and encouraged to try our best 👍🏻. EVERY CHILD had a go! With many of them climbing to the top of the walls. There was lots of resilience being shown (Deema Duck 🦆) as well as some fabulous teamwork (Tim and Tina Tortoise 🐢 🐢) and trust in our friends to keep us safe. Some of the grown ups even had a go!

We all went for lunch (cheese pasty and potato wedges with a choice of brownie, flapjack or marble cake for dessert) and enjoyed a bit more chill 😎 time. Lots of children chose to use the iPad 📱 for their chill time, especially those who went cycling 🚴‍♀️ first!!

Talking of cycling, this was our second activity of the day. Most children (and some adults) rode the kmx bikes around the reservoir. Some adults cycled children in the assisted bike, others followed (usually by running!!) the 3 wheel trikes and helped them with steering!!!

We then headed back to the houses 🏘️ to chill, shower 🚿 and make ourselves smell great again! This evening, we played outside 🌳 and headed for dinner at half past 6 where we had the choice of hot pot 🍲 or lasagne 🍝. Then for desert we had cheesecake 🍰 - it was delicious 😋!!

The children were offered a choice between a chill night or a movie 🎥 and the vote was fairly unanimous- chilling out it was!!! 😎 Unsurprisingly, all children were in bed and asleep a lot quicker tonight - no half one chat sessions here!! 🥱 😴

We are so excited for tomorrow & can’t wait to see what it will bring!

See you soon!

Lots of love from Year 6 😁

🧳 Diary of the year 6 travellers! 🧳 

Day 3 - 17.05.23

What a wonderful day we had today! 😁

The children had a slightly slower start this morning, with many of them not waking up until 8 o’clock 🕗. We did the usual wash 🧼, teeth 🦷 🪥 and change our clothes 👕 👖, then headed for breakfast. 

Today we could choose from bacon 🥓, fried egg 🍳, baked beans 🫘, hash browns and toast 🍞. There was also yoghurt and fruit 🍌 🍎 🍏 🍊 available. 

We had a bit of down time 😎 before heading towards our activities for the day. 

The first activity was horse riding 🏇. Some children were already experts at this and they were allowed to ride without a leader. There were lots of different horses 🐴 and we even got to groom them. 

We then had lunch (Jacket potato 🥔, baked beans 🫘 and cheese 🧀) before another little chill 😎 in the sunshine ☀️.

The second activity today was crate stacking! We were clipped into harnesses and worked in pairs to build a tall tower. We went as high as possible then became human wrecking balls and knocked them down! It was so much fun 🤩!

We were then lucky enough to go on the giant swing!! We were put in a harness and hoisted up to the ceiling. Then after a count down, our group leaders pulled the cord and we went flying!! Even some of the adults 👩🏻 👱🏻‍♂️ went on the swing (and they screamed the loudest!!)

In the evening, we had a swim 🏊🏻‍♀️ in the hydrotherapy pool. It was so much fun!! Then it was roast dinner 🍲 for tea with ice cream 🍨 for desert! 😋 

Our evening entertainment was a visit from Exmoor zoo. Everyone got to handle giant snails 🐌, snakes 🐍 an owlet 🦉 and even a meerkat! It was wonderful.

We headed to bed and everyone was well asleep before 10 o’clock 🕙.

Final activity day tomorrow - archery, zip line and abseiling to look forward to!!

Night night!
Love from a very tired year 6
😴😴😴😴😴

🧳 Diary of the yr 6 travellers! 🧳

Thursday - 18th May 2023

Final activity day!!! As has become our normal, we started the day slowly 🐢!!! We completed the morning routine: get up, washed 🧼, dressed 👕 👖, brush our teeth 🦷 and headed to breakfast for half 8 🕣. Today’s hot brekkie consisted of: scrambled egg 🥚, baked beans, sausage 🌭, hash browns and toast 🍞. Cold options were the usual - Fruit 🍎 🍏 🍌 🍊 yoghurt and cereal 🥣. Some children 👧 👦 were exceptionally hungry 🤤 today! We have eaten well this week!!!

Before leaving breakfast, we wished Dominic a happy birthday. He told us all about his new sea life book that he had for his birthday. He was super excited for the day!

While we were chilling, another special surprise happened, Mrs Sullivan 👩🏻‍🏫 walked into the quad! We were so excited 😆 to see her and gave lots of big hugs 🤗.

After a bit of a run 🏃‍♀️ and some chill time 😎 we headed off to our first activity - archery 🏹!! Year 6 LOVED this! We played a range of games like rescue the princess 👸🏻 , holiday ☀️ and even did a good old fashioned high score round. Lots of the grown ups 🧔🏻 👩🏻 also had a go… needless to say it got competitive!!

Lunch was another delicious meal, macaroni and cheese 🧀 😋 or jacket potato 🥔 with salad 🥗 on the side. Everyone was pretty hungry by this point so we wolfed our food down. Then for dessert we had birthday cake 🎂!! The chef had made two HUGE cakes 🍰 for Dominic to share with us and the other centre users. We all sang happy birthday to him and tucked in. There were lots of chocolatey 🍫 faces.

Second activity today was abseiling and the zip wire. This was BRILLIANT 🤩! Everyone faced their fears 😧 and went down the wall. Some even went twice!!! The zip wire was really fun too. Lots of us went super fast. The instructors played a little prank on Lucie which made everyone laugh 😂. They asked her to hold onto a rope then told her to let go… and that released her on the zip wire! Lucie also found it very funny 😆.

Just time for a little chill 😎, pack our bags 🧳 and then dinner (chicken Kiev or cottage pie) before we got our fancy clothes on and took to the dance floor. 💃🕺 The disco was a huge hit! Everyone had at least one dance, with most of us partying until 9 o’clock 🕘.

Now we’re all tucked up in bed 🛌 ready to snooze the night away 😴!

We can’t wait to see you all tomorrow to tell you more about our adventures.

Sleep tight!

Love from a totally wiped out year 6! 😁😁😁

🧳 Diary of the year 6 travellers! 🧳

Friday 19th May

Well, we’ve come to the end of a spectacular residential. Our bags 🧳 were all packed and we went for our final breakfast 🍳 of the holiday. It was a bacon 🥓 , fried egg 🍳 and hash brown kind of day for most of us. Some children had cereal 🥣 and yoghurt.

We did the final checks then headed towards our bus 🚌 waiting point. We had to take a minibus 🚐 to the main coach because it was too big to get down the lane to Calvert. The children 👧 👦 were fab. It was a long journey to the airport! Lots of traffic 🚗 🚙 🚗 🚗 🚙.

We arrived and checked in immediately before going through fast track security. Only 3 bag checks to do!! 🤩 Almost immediately, our gate was called and we went off to gate 27. Bristol airport was very busy and we stuck close to our group leaders. We were so rushed we didn’t get to stop at McDonald’s! No fries for us 😞!

We were all amazingly patient when waiting for the plane ✈️. Now was our last chance to raid the teachers 👩🏻🧔‍♂️sweetie 🍬 and fruit 🍏 🍎 🍊 🍌 stash!! Mrs Sullivan 👩🏻‍🏫 bought us all some water🚰 and then we boarded the plane at 14.20.

The flight ✈️ was fairly uneventful, just a chance for us to finish all the crisps and sweets 🍬 we still had. The trip had one final surprise for us. As we came into land, the pilot 👨‍✈️ misjudged the runway and couldn’t land!! So we had a double take off and a double landing 🛬!! When we finally did land, everyone was extremely excited to see our families 👨‍👩‍👧👨‍👧👩‍👦👨‍👧‍👦👨‍👦👨‍👦‍👦👩‍👧‍👧👨‍👨‍👧 - we said goodbye 👋 and that was the end of our adventures.

I think we will all sleep well this weekend!!!!

Love from An emotional, exhausted (yet somehow still excited!) year 6

Final note from our teachers:

We have had a wonderful time with the children this week. They have behaved beautifully and really challenged themselves. Their resilience and determination never failed to impress us. We were also seriously impressed with their dance moves!!!

A huge thanks goes to our dedicated PSFA who raised the funds to send us to Calvert. The children will hopefully remember this experience for the rest of their lives.

Thank you so much for your support and for your trust in us to bring them back in one piece! Now, time to collapse!! 😆

Many thanks, The Staff Team - Deanna, Lou, Chris, Christine, Paula, Cat & Caitlin