The first few days of the trip have flown by with the children having a great time. The Cosford Air Museum and Military base was the first part of the adventure with the children visiting the various hangars. The Second World War planes were a favourite, while the dog-sight simulator was very exciting.
The coach then travelled on to the magnificent Condover Hall where the pupils discovered their dormitories. Each team went off on their separate activities; survival or the laser maze and the stepping stones. Both teams threw themselves into the activity and thoroughly enjoyed it. In the evening, the children went to the campfire with two other schools. They had games around the fire (including Britain’s Got Talent), singing, riddles and stories. At the end of the activity, the children gave a wish to a stick which was then placed onto the fire.
On Tuesday, after a long day Monday and not nearly enough sleep, the children got up for their next day of activities at JCA. Once the children had finished their breakfasts the boys filled their spare time with football while the girls decided to chat in their rooms. At 9.30 we assembled for our first activity of the day. Mrs Wilce’s team went off for fencing while Mr Baylis’s team experienced the laser maze and stepping stones. Both teams had to use different skills to complete the activities successfully. Fencing involved independent work using skill and attention to defeat the opponent and laser maze and stepping stones required working as a team to complete the task.
The second activity was fencing or the multi vines for either group. For many children, the multi vines were scary and intimidating standing at the bottom and looking up but it was pleasing to see everyone try the activity and most children completing it. After lunch and more football, the next set of activities commenced with either multi vines or the sensory trail followed by either climbing or tunnelling and buzzing. Once again, the children had to use a multiple skills to complete the activities from listening and smelling to hand-eye co-ordination and determination.
After our evening meal, the evening activity was Busted, a quiz style game which involved a range of knowledge. The children worked in teams to answer questions from different categories to earn points and enjoyed the challenge.
Half way through the week and some of the children have decided they need their sleep! The morning activities were archery or climbing followed by tunnelling and buzzing depending on groups. The children followed instructions well and were able to effectively complete their tasks with some competition between children in archery.
On Wednesday afternoon, the children were kitted out in wetsuits and went out of Condover Hall to the lake where activities of kayaking and raft building were conducted. Children had to work together to manoeuvre the kayaks around the lake, going forwards, backwards and turning the kayak to face a different direction. The children really enjoyed this activity and many of the groups figured out strategies to steer the kayak effectively. After that the children had to follow instructions and work together to build a raft. Once the raft was built, some groups mounted the raft and were able to move the raft through the water, not everyone was able to stay dry! Once these activities had finished, we were back on the mini bus back to Condover Hall.
A busy few days so far and plenty more to come!