IOW – Day 3

The children continue to excel at Little Canada!

Bundles of energy greeted Mr Law and Mrs Kingman as the children awoke – a great night’s sleep was had by all. Following yesterday’s room inspection, all of the adults were so pleased to see excellent improvements from all children in the quality of their rooms. On the second day, the competition is still very close as the teachers were greeted by songs, dances and treats galore – the children are certainly upping their game.  Amongst the children, the key question is still a keen topic of conversation; who will be crowned ‘Best Room’ at the end of the week?

The children made their way to breakfast and were thrilled to see some new additions to today’s menu – sausages and beans! After another hearty breakfast, we headed to the first of our many activities, including new challenges such as Zip Wire, Giant Swing and the Low Level Ropes Course.

Then, the time was upon us… sensory trail time. Ever since the children arrived, sensory trail has been a much-talked about event and in the end the experience proved very enjoyable. This activity provided a superb opportunity for the children to develop socially as they had to trust those people around them to guide and support them as they lost their sense of sight. After some brief training with the blacked-out goggles, the children made their way eagerly to the sensory trail course. With the guidance of our instructors, each group made a long line and had to follow each other through the treacherous terrain, with tyres, tunnels, logs and muddy puddles all standing in the way of them and victory! All children were able to overcome the barriers that presented themselves and succeeded with the challenge. According to the children, they have claimed that they were being soaked and tickled by leaves and branches during the course; Mr Law, Mrs Kingman and the other group leaders have all declined to comment but I’m sure this is just down to the water fairies and mud munchkins that Mrs Kingman has heard live in the forests.

The survivor challenge was embraced by two groups this morning as they learnt key survival skills, such as being able to light a fire with flint, sharpen wood for tent pegs and of course how to make an effective shelter. Louie showed excellent perseverance whilst trying to light his flame and really demonstrated his independence during this task. Julianna and Matthew became experts at planning strategically as they had to discuss and create a shelter to survive all eventualities! Mrs Wilson and Mrs Griffiths were so impressed with the way Charlie was able to apply his scientific knowledge to these survival situations, applying knowledge from our recent Light topic.

Lunchtime provided a welcome opportunity for the children to discuss their morning activities and look ahead to what the afternoon had in store, with many children looking forward to the high adrenaline rope activities such as Giant Swing and the Zip Wire.

This afternoon, all four groups took part in the Low Level Ropes Course, which required all children to support and establish trust with their peers in order to achieve success. All of the group leaders commented upon the children’s excellent levels of trust and support for each other; in particular, the instructors highlighted the effectiveness of Billy D, Kristina, Izabella and Henry as being very supportive of their friends. Bezaleel showed great trust and kindness to his other group members when he continually reassured his peers, telling them “I’ve got you, I’ve got you” – such a great example of our mission statement in action.

Half of the children experienced Giant Swing this afternoon and half took part in Zipwire (these activities will be reversed for tomorrow). Groups 1 and 2 had the pleasure of the Giant Swing and with the support and encouragement from their peers, every child had a go. With many loud screams the children experienced the swing, and they were all extremely proud of themselves for doing so – we are too! Groups 3 and 4 tackled the Zipwire and Mrs Griffiths explained how pleased she was with all of Group 4 partaking in the Zipwire, highlighting Tiago’s excitement to feel the adrenaline rush and participate first.

The children are currently partaking in an enlarged (and human) version of the board game Cluedo. After two and a half days full of activities, sleep is welcomed by all as we look forward to another busy day, including the highly-anticipated Disco night!

A reflective thought from Dominika to sum up the experience so far, who explained that although we are all still learning and developing, this whole experience “feels like a holiday”.

As our third night at Little Canada draws to a close, from the bottom of our hearts we would like to let you know how very proud we are of each and every member of our Year 6 children – it has been a true delight to see them develop their social and personal skills in all that they do and we look forward to seeing this continue tomorrow as we all face new challenges.

As always, thoughts and prayers with all back in Bermondsey.

God bless, Year 6.