It was a busy start to the week for the children in Oak as they were the first of our Year Four classes to venture out of school in order to enjoy a one night residential trip to Wat Tyler Country Park. The day began with the children taking part in some team challenges out in the park where they had to develop their negotiation skills in order to successfully complete each task. After lunch, the children made their own kites before they took part in an orienteering activity where they used a compass in teams in order to find answers to questions hidden at various spots around the park.

In the evening, the children took part in a night walk where they learnt about the stars in the sky and the animals which call the park their home before visiting ‘Mr Blunt’ in his cottage where he told them an old story by the fireside. After they had made their way back to the residential, the children ended the first day with a hot chocolate before bed. It was very brave of the children to spend the night away from home as many of them had not spent a night away before.

The next day, after an early start to the day, the children spent some time over in the play park as the mud slide was out of use due to the amount of water in the area before taking part in a shelter building activity in the woods. The children used all of their prior learning from their Forest Friends sessions to build a shelter that had to withstand the elements. Having built their shelters, they were tested by having large bottles of water thrown over them and some of the teams were so successful that they remained dry! The trip finished with the children all taking part in a soft archery session which, although they were tired, they all enjoyed.

The food throughout the trip was provided by the Wat Tyler Country Park cafe and we were the first school to enjoy their hospitality. The food was perfect, with a great range of choices and good sized portions all served by a friendly team. Thank you to all at the cafe for making us feel so welcome!