A week away with the kids

Ha ha - that sounds like I have my own kids... But I am a class teacher and 2 weeks ago I went with 3 other teachers and 41 children for a week's residential trip out in the countryside of Essex. I work in an inner city school, with children who have very few opportunities and have certainly not been out into the countryside for any extended time. It was such an amazing experience for them and, while I was dreading it before going, we had a fantastic time. We stayed in a big country house, we did activities such as archery, bike riding, campfire cooking, scavenger hunts and we went on some great long walks, took the children to a visit to Stansted Mountfitchett Castle (It's a motte-and-bailey reproduction) and had them feeding animals from their hands. It was a fantastic week, and bar the sleepless nights, we had a great time. Thought I'd share a few photos with you.

Kidz In Da House!

I wasn't expecting to be able to write any blog posts this week. I'm meant to be staying with the children in my class at the residential centre we go to every year. I've been looking forward to it all year - the kids get to do loads of really fun activities such as orienteering, archery, camping skills, cycling etc etc and it's so good for their independence & maturity as well as being a great way for them to end their primary school years. I am absolutely gutted that I'm not there.  Damn you bike accident!

The main house where the children and teachers stay,
have meals and hide when it 's raining

As it is, I had to forego the fun and have been left at school covering other classes. I don't really mind as it's always nice to spend time with other children too, and its quite nice to remember where your kids have come from and how they've grown up. Today I was with year 3 (7-8) and they were so lovely I had a great day.

I haven't totally missed out though; not all the children go every year - there are always a few who don't go for various reasons. For those who don't go, we try to make sure that their week at school is really fun (I think they've had ice-creams and free play quite a bit this week!) And we make a day trip to visit as well. We all piled into minibuses yesterday and hoped it wouldn't rain. The minibus was exciting enough - they got to listen to the radio! (small pleasures!) But once we had arrived it was clear what an amazing place it is and how lucky our school is to be able to go there.The children who were there had grown in confidence over the space of one day and had matured overnight. They were so excited to show their friends around and share their experiences. A number of those who had come for the day trip asked if they could stay and said they hadn't realised how much fun it was going to be. Thought I'd share some pictures. For obvious reasons there are no children in any of the pictures - I waited until they had all gone on a walk together before I took any. Just imagine it all swarming with kids playing!

You can see the sandpit and table tennis behind the tree
- there's also an adventure playground, football pitch and basketball court.

What the children were most fascinated by: redcurrants, blueberries, gooseberries and raspberries in the gardens - and all just turning ripe now! Lots of red-stained hands and mouths!

One of the activities is pond-dipping and another is camping skills
- hence a large pond and tents.

The archery hall. Yesterday they were looking at this in awe: what's it for?! 

We're a bit early for apples but the orchard is loaded.
Inner-city children finally getting to see where food comes from.