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Mersea Island May 2023 - Day 4
Fri 26 May 2023We just had the penultimate night before our return and the fatigue is definitely setting in - all the children were asleep at around eleven and the majority had to be woken up by the adults to get breakfast at eight!
We had waffles today before hitting the lake again for more kayaking and body boarding, though today’s weather wasn’t as kind to us as yesterday’s; no sun and higher winds had us all shivering! A few tough cookies managed to stay in the whole time but many of us cut the session short to try and warm up.
Luckily, we had swimming next in a heated pool! The children had a great time playing games and using the balls and floats.
We then did some more beach exploration before groups who hadn’t done kit karts and pedal karts managed to squeeze in their sessions. Mr Clarke’s group used their free session to design their own obstacle course involving anything they could get their hands on!
We went shell hunting for the last time and finished off the evening with our hot chocolate.
Now, the children have done some preliminary packing and are off to bed. We’ll see how late they manage to stay up tonight - my bet is not long from all the tired faces about!
We’ll see you tomorrow!
The 2023 residential team
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Mersea Island May 2023 - Day 3
Thu 25 May 2023I think the secret to sleeping children on a residential before 12 has been unlocked: hardcore capture the flag!
This was still outside my 11 o’clock prediction though; it seems half eleven was the time most went to sleep. But we are bringing it earlier!
The same can’t be said for getting up - the children slouched out of bed this morning at quarter past seven before heading to the kitchen for breakfast.
A big breakfast of hash browns and sausage burgers was had in preparation for our morning of water activities! The children got to do paddle boarding or kayaking and for the first half hour there were only two overboard situation, and both were due to Mr Clarke’s inabiltiy to push kayaks into the lake correctly (he was removed from the position by the staff to general applause from the waiting kayakers).
That took up the whole morning before we split off to do archery, high ropes, pedal carts and It’s a Knockout, where the children competed against each other in the old-school gladiator style (if anyone can remember that show from the 90s)! The green team won their first ever event and did themselves proud.
The activities went all the way to half eight today, and the children were so tired after their hot chocolate that they’ve all hit the hay without the adults having to nag them at all!
Let’s see if we can get all of them asleep before half eleven this time before our last full day of activities tomorrow!
All the best,
The 2023 residential team
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Let’s Get Fit Workshop
Wed 24 May 2023On Wednesday this week, each of our classes enjoyed a Let's Get Fit Workshop with Daniel Leight from Fit4Kids.
The Let's Get Fit! workshops included:
¨ Introduction - Being active is important to health and benefits of exercise.
¨ Warmup and Stretch - Go through activities and explain the benefits and describe light, moderate and hard exercise.
¨ Amounts of energy contain certain foods and drinks and equating that for the amount of exercise needed.
¨ Exercise Spinning Wheel
¨ Tabata workout to music
¨ Cool down and Stretch - Go through activities and explain the benefits.
The Let's Get Fit workshops were fun and energetic and they highlighted the importance and promoted the benefits of physical activity and exercise - focussing on all things fitness! Throughout these workshops, the pupils were extremely active for the majority of the time, developing an understanding of the different components that made up a strong and solid workout. Danny introduced each workshop through a warmup and stretch, before really ramping up the level! In their sessions, the pupils developed an understanding of energy levels, and the amount of effort needed to reap the benefits. Using the Spinning Wheels they created a Tabata workout for the class to really get the blood pumping! Finishing off with a cool down and stretch.
The staff pupils and staff agreed the workshops were great fun. Thank you to Danny Leight (who said that our pupils were amazingly behaved!) and our PE Leader, Mrs McInnes, for organising this brilliant event!
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Mersea Island May 2023 - Day 2
Wed 24 May 2023So, the plan of children asleep by 10.00pm wasn’t a huge success - it appears that midnight came and went with most of them still awake and chatting or getting very scared of the five spiders in their cabins! Still, this didn’t slow them down; most were awake by six and some had been playing card games from five a.m.!
Finally, the teachers were able to rouse themselves enough that we could make our way to the kitchens for a stodgy breakfast of pancakes with syrup or fruit; cereal; toast; and then another helping of cereal! This gave the children the fuel to take on their first activities.
All the groups were able to hit the beach, though only one was fortunate enough to get there when the tide was out, allowing them to go crabbing! However, one group made up for this disappointment by burying Mr Clarke when he was trying to have a nice relax on the sand!
Mrs Tickle’s group repaired St Mary’s driving reputation at Mersea Residential with some fantastic manoeuvres (including reverse bay parking!) on the pedal karts. They whizzed around the course and showed that the other go-kart crashes were just blips.
We also did archery, the leap of faith and team games, before ending the day with a whole-class game of capture the flag (with a cameo from Ms Naunton for the blue team). There have been some formal disputes of Mr Clarke’s scoring, though the committee, comprising Mr Clarke, has reviewed these and found the baseless.
We’re looking forward to doing our water activities tomorrow - kayaking and paddle boarding are on the to-do schedule and the children can’t wait!
Now, the aim is all children in bed and asleep by eleven p.m..
Don’t miss tomorrow’s update!
The 2023 residential team
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Mersea Island May 2023 - Day 1
Tue 23 May 2023Well, it was not the most auspicious beginning to a residential in St Mary’s history, but we managed to get to Mersea Island before the tide cut us off (though it was close!), have some lunch and head straight off for our first activities!
Mrs Tickle’s group headed into the deepest, darkest area of Mersea Island for bushcraft, where they made their own bread, created fire and whittled wood!Whilst that group was working hard in the woods, Miss Naunton and Mr Clarke’s groups headed to build go-karts and hit the climbing walls - all the children, whether they were scared of heights or not, had a go and really pushed themselves to get a bit higher than last year (some did try to disparage Mr Clarke’s ascent to the very top by claiming his route was easier, but after a ten pound donation, the instructor has officially signed off that actually his was the hardest one of all!). However, a few parents might not want to rush their children into driving…judging by the number of go-karts in the bushes!
We’ve just had dinner and played football and French cricket together. Now off to bed for an early night with all children asleep by 10.00.
We’ll let you know how we get on tomorrow!
From,
The residential 2023 team -
Danbury May 2023 - Day 4
Fri 12 May 2023Well we’ve finished on a high as we’ve been zipping around the skies showing off our dance moves as we fly down the zip wire and scrabble across the high ropes 20m up in the air! Thank goodness the ropes are very strong- they can take the weight of 2 double decker buses so that made us feel less nervous… The children have been really brave and resilient as the rain and temperature started to fall.
Down in the woods, children were learning how to light fires which is not that easy when it’s been raining! Their hard work paid off and they were able to enjoy some hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows. Instructors were very impressed with their teamwork skills on the low ropes - they’d never seen a group get that far without losing a life!
After a filling, hot lunch we had fun talking about our favourite moments of the week then it was time to get on the coach.
Thank you year 5 for being a wonderful group to take away. You are funny, kind, bright and brave and I’ve had a wonderful time with you.
Mrs McInnes
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Danbury May 2023 - Day 3
Fri 12 May 2023What a day! The children have impressed us so much. The day has been full of problem solving which was very challenging. One group impressed the instructors so much as they smashed the centre record with the number block challenge, managing an amazing 27 seconds! The obstacle course was great fun, especially the stinky bog which we had to swing over, the long cargo net and the balancing platform.
Many children were very brave facing their fear of caving to crawl through the dark tunnels and we definitely have some able archers in year 5 as there were lots of bullseyes!
We finished the day off with howler games, a film, hot chocolate and biscuits. The children are really looking forward to coming home and seeing you all tomorrow after their final two activities.
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Danbury May 2023 - Day 2
Thu 11 May 2023Today group 1 and 2 did climbing and low ropes. The climbing was difficult when we got to the vertical bit because it was a lot harder. The low ropes were fun because we all had to communicate and work as a team and it was funny how people did it in their groups.
Written by Lily W
In the afternoon we did bushcraft and bridge building - they were both really fun. My group also did canoeing which was scary but I got used to it. In the afternoon we did caving which was very muddy, scary but fun. We finished with archery which was super duper fun.
Written by Emma H-S
We were really lucky this evening as the rain and thunder held off long enough for us to enjoy a fire, play rounders and sardines, finished off with delicious hot chocolate and biscuits! Ready for more challenges tomorrow ...
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Inclusion Sport Event Wednesday 10th May 2023
Wed 10 May 2023On Wednesday 10th May, 11 pupils from Key Stage 1 (years R to Year 2) attended an Inclusion event at Lord Butler Leisure Centre. The event had been organised by Jackie and Carron from the Uttlesford School Sports Partnership and was facilitated by pupils from Saffron Walden County High. Pupils from other local schools joined our St Mary's pupils in a range of multi-skills sports including: curling, trampolining and obstacle courses.
Every single one of our pupils had a fantastic time and their behaviour was exemplary - mixing in with the pupils from the other schools and working brilliantly as a team.
Well done to everyone who attended - and for showing our three St Mary's key disciplines of Safe, Respect and Effort.
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Danbury May 2023 - Day 1
Wed 10 May 2023We’ve had a great first day here at Danbury. After a smooth coach journey we arrived early and settled into our lovely cabins. The sun was shining; 2 groups headed down to the lake for some kayaking and canoeing while the other group took on the climbing wall and aerial trekking. The kids impressed us with how quickly they mastered paddling and it was great to hear from the instructors how polite they thought the kids were. Many children really faced their fears both on the water, on the climbing wall and up on the aerial ropes, some even getting onto the highest level. After a delicious roast chicken dinner we’re hoping the rain and thunderstorm stops so that we can enjoy a camp fire, marshmallows and hot chocolate!