6D residential Day 2

The children slept well (they might say they didn’t) and didn’t get up too early. The weather was gorgeous ‘first thing’ and has been ok, if a bit breezy, all day. The breeze may have helped reduce midges initially this evening.

Each group has done two activities today.

Groups 2 and 3 did canoeing this morning at Scar House Reservoir. Frankly, it was too windy. We still had a go and had some fun. We had to carry the canoes much, much further than usual as the water level was so low. (This reservoir provides water for Bradford. A hosepipe ban could be coming..)

Group 1 did canoeing in the afternoon and it was even windier. They found a dead adder on the shore and made it to a new ‘beach’. They pretended to be Quiddich players with their paddles. The group were up against the wind but worked together and after 5 attempts we made it out of the bay. There was a lot of resilience and determination shown and all of the children worked really hard.

Isobel said: “I really enjoyed trying to reach the beach. The funniest thing was, that when we got to the beach we got drenched as we stepped in ‘quicksand’.”

In the afternoon, Group 2 abseiled and went gorge scrambling. Everyone was very brave and we quickly completed the abseil down from the bridge. We scrambled upstream, taking care not to fall and enjoying getting wet. We then went downstream which included natural slides and a chance to do some jumping in. We had quite a few non-swimmers in our group so we helped them through some short deeper stretches. The group were supportive of each other and we had a great time!

Seerat said: “I really enjoyed the abseiling. At first, I was afraid that I might let go of the rope. I also really enjoyed doing a trust fall. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to do it but I saw lots of others doing it so then I thought that I could do it.”

Frederike said: “I loved gorge scrambling, especially the deep bits and the slides. I did a trust fall and I jumped in from the highest ledge. It was my favourite activity until I lost my glasses (Mr Harris’ fault?).”

Group 1 went gorge scrambling in the morning. Every single one of the children abseiled down into the gorge which is a huge achievement. Ethan and Kiki did a great job lowering themselves and showed lots of courage. Once we set off, some of the children were super brave and did a trust fall (backward into the water!) Huge well done to Cate, Isobel, Max, Kingsley, George and Rai. Thomas and Avni were amazing even when the water got a little deep (Thomas may or may not have used Miss Jones as a floating device).

Isobel said: “The gorge scrambling was quite cold but I managed to do a trust fall into the water (before I got cold) and then a cannonball into the deeper bit. We had to try to pick up a rock – I didn’t manage that! The abseil was amazing!”

Group 3 went caving this afternoon.

We worked together to explore three of the caves on site, learning about limestone, grit stone and crinoids as we went. We explored How Stean Tunnel, and then a bandit took half of the batteries in our torches as we went through Tom Taylor’s cave. All of the children climbed into Eglin’s hole and made it through the squeeze to explore further underground. They were an excellent team and should all be really proud of themselves! Mrs du Preez thinks we might be the bravest group…

Sofia said: “During caving, we saw lots of spiders. Some people in my group were petrified but we managed to persevere through it and come out the other end proud and happy with ourselves. We wriggled through small openings into the caves, doing experiments with our pupils (eyes, not school children).”

I hope we have got everyone in the photos but it is tricky as lots of the activities are linear and Farfield staff are usually at the back!

In the evening we had a camp fire and then the children have had recreation time. They have played really well together.

Phoebe said: “I went to Miss Jones and said ‘I hit myself’. She replied ‘What with? I said ‘with Frederike’s head!’ but Frederike is ok. So it’s fine. Don’t worry. Mrs Hawkhead did a good bowl and I hit it with the cricket bat towards Miss Jones’. She gracefully and skilfully ‘ninja’d’ out of the way but it still nearly knocked the sunglasses off her head! Thank you for your time.”

I think they will sleep well tonight.