Year 6 back from Liddington
21st Sept 2014
Year 6 have returned exhausted but happy from their five day residential at the PGL outdoor centre in Liddington. It was an amazing week with some beautiful weather and the children (and adults) were on the go from 9am to 8pm challenging themselves to climbing, abseiling, archery, problem solving, sensory trail, Jacob’s ladder, trapeze, fencing, giant swing, open canoeing, vertical challenge, crate challenge, zipwire, aeroball, capture the flag, wacky races, singing around the campfire and searching for pirate loot. Phew!
With all this hard work going on, we were extremely grateful for the excellent food and wonderful accommodation. Our school had its own self-contained manor house with every room en-suite and private gardens for playing in!
Some of the activities challenged the children on an individual basis to face their fears and push through mental and sometimes physical barriers. Others, such as Jacob’s ladder and the crate challenge, were only achievable by working as a team and every child came to a point somewhere during the trip where they felt they needed to give up but pushed on through to complete an activity or meet a personal challenge. For some that might have been climbing higher than they felt comfortable doing, letting go and trusting the harness or trusting year mates to guide them when blindfolded on the sensory trail. For others it was more social and emotional – such as learning to compromise or coping with separation from home.
We were extremely proud of the way the children cared for and supported one another, cheering each other on, shouting encouragement and offering practical support. Sometimes there were ‘stars of the day’ who particularly stood out in terms of their positive attitudes, holding doors for people, sharing and caring etc but other days there were too many to mention. As a year group, their conduct was of an extremely high standard and many of the PGL leaders commented on what a pleasure it was to work with our children. We always knew our children were amazing, but it’s nice when someone else recognises that too!
