Last week, 2LT had a wonderful trip to Beaumanor Hall! Mrs Lever, Mrs Turner and all of the adults on the trip were so proud of all of the children; they represented Abbey Road beautifully, and displayed our school motto ‘Take Care, Be Proud’ in everything that they did. They loved all of the activities that they took part in and spent the whole trip with huge smiles on their faces 😊.
On Monday morning, we set off from school, waving happily to the parents as everybody got settled on the bus. When we arrived, we were met by Victoria, who led our activities for the day. First, we dropped our bags off at the cabins and the children had got to pick a bed in the dorms. Then, it was time to get started! In the morning, we enjoyed a bug hunt. The children worked brilliantly with their partners and helped each other to turn over logs, hunt through leaves and dig in the mud, which led to them finding lots of different animals to study in the magnifying pots (before releasing them back into their natural habitats, of course!).
Next, it was time for lunch. The sun was shining and the children enjoyed some time to play on the field outside the cabins before our afternoon activities began.
After lunch, we started with a bird walk. We split into groups and explored the Beaumanor site, looking for different stations, which told us about the birds living in each habitat/microhabitat around the grounds. The children loved searching for the different stations and we were all wowed by the magical pen, which we could use to hear different bird calls. When we listened really carefully, we could even identify some birds in the grounds by their calls, once we had learnt how each one sounded.
After our walk, it was time for the most exciting activity of the day; pond dipping! Again, the children showed such wonderful ‘Take Care’ teamwork as they helped each other to dip their nets into the water, pull them out and explore the contents. We found countless tadpoles and even a few fish! It was so lovely to see the children celebrating their friends’ successes as well as their own too, as they were equally as excited when their friend found something interesting as when they did themselves. Once again, this just showed what a wonderful bunch they are!
Before tea, we headed over to the park and the children enjoyed completing the obstacle course, climbing the different pieces of climbing equipment and swinging on the monkey bars. They were certainly ready for some tea after such a busy day and enjoyed eating their chicken burgers and chips. Once we had finished eating, we were ready for our final activity of the day… The bonfire!
On the walk over to the bonfire site, the children helped to gather firewood and they enjoyed watching the fire get built and lit. They listened very carefully to the instructions on how to stay safe and then, because they were so sensible, they were allowed to come and toast their own marshmallows. What a treat! We played a couple of campfire games and the children particularly enjoyed playing ‘Apple Crumble’, which led to lots of happy giggles! Then, it was time to head back to the cabins and get ready for bed.
After putting on their pjs, the children enjoyed listening to a chapter of our class story before heading off to bed. We were so impressed with how sensibly they all settled down to sleep -they knew they needed to get some rest so that they could enjoy another super day on Tuesday!
Tuesday morning started with a delicious breakfast, then we headed straight off to start our ‘Robin Hood Survival Day’ with some den building. Teamwork shone through again as the children split into groups and made some really impressive shelters -all with different purposes. Some even had cooking stations, tables and chairs and, of course, traps to protect our belongings from intruders!
The final stage of our ‘Robin Hood Survival’ skills included some woodland games and a chance to have a go at archery. We split into two games and whilst half the group played ‘Catch the Sheriff’ in the woods, the other half had the chance to have a go at archery. This was quite tricky, but everybody got the hang of it and some people even managed to reach the target! Yet again, the children showed our Take Care values. This time, it was their resilience that shone as they continued to work on their stance and pulling the string of the bow back as far as possible, to help their arrow to shoot forwards.
When it was time for lunch, we enjoyed eating with 2MT (who had arrived on Tuesday morning) and having a bit of time to play with them on the field. Then, it was time for us to visit the gift shop, before getting back on the coach to come home. The smiles continued back at school as we had a little bit of time to show each other our gift shop purchases before we headed home -ready for an early night!
What a fantastic trip we had, thank you so much for making it so brilliant 2LT! You are all superstars and we loved seeing you have so much fun. 😊
