Welcome to Year 6 blog

Sunday 9.25pm
We have all arrived safe and sound, uneventful journey, no one unwell on the coach and lunch was enjoyed at Chester Services. Arrived at the centre at about 3.00pm and we were all amazed by the size and grandness of the buildings. Kingswood share the site with a girls boarding school although they are two separate businesses and certain facilities (the dining room) are shared. Having had a tour around the centre it was time for bed making and unpacking. Code breaking skills were required for one suitcase and a small confusion over 2 similar bags but everyone has now managed to find all their own clothes. Straight in to first activities, fencing, parachute games and team challenges, after which all the girls entered the dining room for dinner with a hungry smile on their faces. Sausages/cheese topped muffins, chips, baked beans, salad bar and variety of puddings kept everyone quiet for a little while. The weather just held out enough for us to have a campfire this evening with songs old and new being performed by our girls and Kingswood staff alike. Having had a drink and a quiet chat about what to look forward to tomorrow the girls have now headed off to bed, all happy, tired, yet inwardly excited. The comment of the day from one annonymous girl was overheard during the campfire that just about sums up the day we have had so far - "oh dear my cheeks are hurting I've been laughing so much". Lets hope that as much fun is had on Monday (although we are aware that it is the start of a school week so we will have to try to fit some lessons in somewhere as well)! More from this blog tomorrow, about the sme time.
Monday 7.55pm
Thanks very much to everyone who has sent in emails, it is certainly appreciated and I know that the centre is amazed by the number we are receiving. Unfortunately the girls do not get a chance to reply personally, they all send their love! The weather here today has been a little grey and miserable but has not dampened the spirits of the girls at all. Their activity clothes are looking rather grubby a there is a really healthy glow about their complexions!
Everyone slept very well, a few were awake rather early but I doubt if that will happen again tomorrow morning. A hearty breakfast was followed by no fewer than 6 different activities, every one of the girls has succeeded in going down the zip wire at some point today and they have all completed a variety of other challenges ranging from circus skills to climbing and laser tag to problem solving.
There has just been a little down time after dinner when many of the girls took the opportunity to shower or write postcards or have a chat with their friends and they are now involved in the final activity of the day "Scrapheap Challenge". We are hoping that we will manage to sort out some hot chocolate for them before bed time tonight and they will drag their weary limbs up the stairs to bed.
The overiding image of today is one of determination and smiles, every girl has acheived something that they never knew that they could do and will have put something very special into their long term memory bank to be remembered for many many years to come. Rest assured that everyone is safe, happy and healthy and already looking forward to tomorrow (and the disco). I am sorry, but we just couldn't manage to fit in any formal Maths lessons today but I will try again tomorrow. More from the blog tomorrow evening.
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Tuesday 8.15pm
Wow, another day nearly over and another Year 6 residential drawing to a close. The girls certainly slept well last night and they were not up quite so early this morning. Breakfast seemed to wake them up in time for their first activities of the day. Once again their enthusiasm was not dampened by rather grey, overcast conditions and their attitude was rewarded with a glorious, sunny afternoon. Activities today have included mission impossible, archery, abseiling, a session in a sensory room and a strange mix of trampolining and netball called aeroball. Abseiling certainly tested the nerves as you were asked to take the "leap of faith" from a platform some 6 metres above the ground. Once again determination and trust were the key skills required for this and the girls did themselves proud, acheiving well beyond their own expectations. A quote from one anonymous pupil: "I've done lots of things I thought I would be too afraid to do". Everyone has acheived something that just cannot be taught in the classroom over the last couple of days.
At the time of writing the girls are enjoying their disco or film (School of rock) and they are al very happy with what they have chosen. Hot chocolate will be served at about 9.00pm before heading towards bed and the least popular activitiy of their stay here - packing to go home. There are still two activities tomorrow morning before having a packed lunch and heading back to Sheffield. We also intend to carry out an awards ceremony congratulating all the girls on some small and sometimes amusing aspect of their time away.
We intend to arrive back at about 4.00pm tomorrow but we will put the phone cascade into action if we are expecting to arrive back much later than this time. The girls will come back tired and full of tales to tell, I doubt if anyone will get a word in edgeways in your households tomorrow evening!
Rest assured that the girls are all happy and safe and have all enjoyed a fantastic few days away - still no Maths lessons but the learning has been immense.
Wednesday 9.30pm
Sorry about the delay in posting this entry, hopefully it is all working now. Even more excitement, a change of programme, the quad biking track has been finished and we are the first people to be able to use it so we are managing to let all the girls have a quick go at riding a quad bike - much excitement!
See you all back in Sheffield.
P.S.
Although your daughters are now safely back at home, it does not feel as if this blog is quite complete without details of what happened on the last day. We were very fortunate to be able to re-programme the activities schedule to include quad biking. Kingswood have just had a brand new track built and new quad bikes to go with it. We were the first group to be allowed to use it and our girls certainly put both the track and the bikes through their paces. There were many spectacular crashes and it made much more entertaining viewing than Formual 1. As well as quad bikes there was also time for another final activity, fencing or team challenge, depending on which group. A quick packed lunch was consumed during which we had a light hearted awards ceremony, celebrating some of the acheivements and howlers from our time away. A rather long, boring journey, with delays on the motorways saw us arrive back in Sheffield about 1/2 an hour late. Tired and happy the girls clasped at Mums and Dads waiting to meet us before begging assistance with the carrying of bags.
During the trip both SHS and Kingswood Staff were extremely impressed with the conduct of the girls, their attitude towards activities and their willingness to support each other in everything that they did was a credit to the school, but more importantly, parents. They were reliable and prompt, both excitable and calm at the right times, responsive, respectful, responsible and most importantly a lot of fun to be with. You, as parents should be extremely proud of your daughters, we are as a school.
We are now starting to come down from all the excitement but the tales continue to come out - I'm not sure we will ever learn the full story on a number of issues. In the next few weeks we will edit the hundreds of photographs that were taken and burn them onto a CD for every girl. In the meantime clicking here will give you just a taster of what is to come.