WELL DONE children for being SUPERSTARS during our week in Kingswood.
Could you take 5 minutes out of your weekend to comment on this post, saying what you thought of your week and whether you would recommend it to next year's Year 6 children.
Perhaps you could also say a little THANK YOU to the fabulous adults (Mrs Marshall, Mrs Hopkins, Mrs Rance, Mr Geeson and Miss Pelham) who looked after you so well.
Have a great weekend
God bless
Mr Parascandolo
It's just after 10.30pm on Thursday evening and (nearly) every child is fast asleep - and no wonder after another fun filled day of laughter and adventure.
So, there may be a few sets of photos to add, later tonight, but this is the last post!
After breakfast this morning, we set off for more fun group activities. Back together for lunch (hot dogs or cheese and onion pasties and potato wedges).
Then off for more activities and perhaps the most challen
ging so far - abseiling! The children were so brave and many of them conquered their fears to step 'over the edge'. When they were not taking part they were supporting and encouraging those who were less confident - so lovely to see!
Back together for dinner - southern fried chicken or mac n cheese fish cakes!, followed by strawberry ice cream.We gave a big THANK YOU to the catering staff who have worked so hard and been so friendly throughout the week (I think it's quite unusual for schools to do this but it's so important for our children to be grateful for all that they receive).
Next it was time to don the Hawaiian outfits! We had the beach completely to ourselves and your children had so much fun playing in the sand, building sandcastles - when will they ever get the chance to do that again with 57 of their friends?!
So, we trudged back up the hill, shook the sand from our feet and for some of us it was time to crowd around our phones to listen to or watch the second half of a very important West Ham game!
Aside from the many activities they have challenged themselves to take part in, they have faced even bigger challenges of sharing a room with others, making their own beds, trying new food and being independent. Please remind them that they have gone without their phones for nearly a week AND survived!
All of the adults will agree that they have been an absolute joy and, as always, we have received many compliments about their friendliness, good nature and consistently superb behaviour.
They have displayed excellent manners and have represented their families and our school brilliantly. Each and every one of them has been extremely brave, conquering their fears and achieving so much. Most importantly, they have developed further their friendships, have been kind and encouraging, supported one another with kind words and actions, and even a hug or two when needed. They will arrive home tomorrow afternoon better prepared for their next big adventure, when they move on to secondary school in September. However, they may need dunking in a warm soapy bath before you get too close!
Of course, none of this would be possible without the following five people:
Mrs Marshall, Mrs Hopkins, Mrs Rance, Miss Pelham and Mr Geeson.
Nothing has been too much trouble for these wonderful adults and they have given the children superb care 24 hours a day, and always with a beaming smile.
They have proved that not all superheroes wear capes!
Although you will be desperate to grab your child and take them home tomorrow afternoon, please turn them around and ensure that they say a massive THANK YOU!
Please share all of the blog posts with your child during the weekend as they
haven't seen any of these photos and will love telling you about their adventures.
We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow afternoon
God bless
Mr Parascandolo
Very brave children on perhaps the most challenging activity.
Everyone tried, even if it was just climb to the top.
Lots of photos to look at here I'm afraid!
Good morning from Kingswood!
Yesterday was a very busy day and there wasn't much time to upload photos and videos but we're nearly up to date!
A busy morning of activities yesterday so you can imagine how pleased the children were when they found out that there were burgers, chips and onion rings for lunch!
The afternoon was amazing - a few hours of memories made on our (almost) private beach, which is 5 mins walk from the centre - please look at this slideshow and the videos if you haven't done so already.
I think the children could have stayed all evening but we hadn't eaten for a few hours so returned to the dining hall (after a shower for some of our sandy girls). Chicken sausages, mash and peas for dinner and then ready for our evening activity, when we all joined together for a campfire. Singing, games, jokes and toasted marshmallows - great fun had by all.
Having heard all of that , you can imagine that the children didn't really need any encouragement to go to bed and they were asleep fairly quickly!
It's just before 6am on Thursday morning and silence reigns - glorious!
Bracing ourselves for the task of opening the boys' bedroom doors this morning so might leave that a little while longer! Then off to breakfast at 8:20, followed by another morning of activity - the children will be taking part in:
Fire Lighting, Low Ropes, Shelter Building, Buggy Build, 3G Swing, and exploring Minibeasts.
The sun is already shining brightly so we are going to have another amazing day!
If you have been looking at the blog I probably don't need to tell you that your children are having the time of their lives!
Look out for more posts later and have a good day.
Mr Parascandolo
We have had such a FANTASTIC afternoon on the beach in glorious weather.
The children were amazed at how vast and empty the beach was (we nearly had it to ourselves). They built sandcastles, dug huge holes, played football and cricket and went searching for crabs in the rock pools (limited success but great fun!)
The children LOVED every minute, and why wouldn't they - surrounded by their friends, singing and laughing all afternoon, having really innocent fun.
Emily summed it all up (and made us all smile) with this most wonderful line:
"See what happens when you take our phones away from us"
We love it and think it should be the tagline for our residential trip!
Watch these fabulous videos, which demonstrates how much fun they were having:
Sorry, but it has been an action packed day and we have been outside until now (9:30pm).
There has been very little time to upload photos so that will be done when we have settled the children down - it's going to be a late night as there's lots to share but I hope it will be worth it!
Apologies - My camera was playing up this morning (too much use I suspect) so the first 50-60 slides are a little out of focus!
Good morning from the Isle of Wight!
The sun is shining and we've all had a little more sleep! The children were really tired last night and needed waking up at 7:30 this morning (payback time for Mr Geeson and Mr Parascandolo !!). However, there's definitely a skill in waking them without breathing in - imagine a room with 8 boys and you'll begin to understand!
Off to breakfast - it was a struggle to eat all of this, but we coped!
Another great sunny afternoon filled with activity.
At every activity I joined, the children were so full of smiles and laughter, some of them trying really hard to overcome their fears and taking great delight when they did so.
It is so lovely to also see the delight from their friends who are supporting them, cheering them on and hugging them, whether they succeed or not. We are very proud of our lovely children!
After activities we were set for our third hot meal of the day! Hunters Chicken or chicken nuggets, fried potatoes, carrots, salad and, to top it off, a jam doughnut to finish!
Not only are the children learning to challenge themselves during their activities, they are also practising their manners towards the catering staff and learning to sit and eat together, make polite conversation, wait for every one to finish before getting up from the table and making sure that everything is clean and tidy (it's fair to say that this is a work in progress!!!)
After dinner we gathered together for Scrapheap Challenge (see photos below) - more great fun and laughter and some adults took great delight in throwing water bombs at a few not so innocent victims!
It is now just gone 9.35pm and children are in bed and settling down for the night. After such a long day outside we hope that they will be asleep a little quicker tonight!
Please be assured that everyone is well and extremely happy!