By Mrs Schofield (Head of Year 4), Mrs Baker (Year 4 Teacher) and Miss Coote (Year 4 Teacher)

Year 4 have had the time of their lives on their first school residential this week, at Grafham Water Activity Centre in Cambridgeshire. From learning how to make a bed, to being responsible for their own belongings, and going to sleep at a reasonable time, there were lots of new skills to learn.

Accompanied by the beautiful weather, the girls participated in canoeing, mountain biking, sailing, orienteering and climbing. We focused on the Centre’s acronym BESTTT (Brave, Encouraging, Safe, Try, Trust and Teamwork). The girls had to be brave in facing new and challenging activities, encouraging to our friends that were feeling nervous, supportive to everyone in our team, trust that our team members would keep us safe, practise good teamwork skills and try our BESTTT!

Over the three days, the girls added comments to a flip chart to record when they were brave or report that someone had helped them conquer their fears. By the end, the sheet was overflowing with positivity and signs of growing self-confidence and personal achievements. As staff we were immensely proud of the girls for showing grit, determination and resilience, whilst being away from their parents and families for the first time.

Nelly Sibbald (4S) said: “When I was looking up at Jacob’s Ladder it looked so hard, but I got all the way to the top. When I got down, it seemed so easy!”

Sophia Owens (4AB) said: “I used to be afraid of going down hills on a bicycle but I kept getting back on again and discovered I could go up and down hills more easily. I am so proud of myself”.

Lia Ben Cohen (4C) said: “I loved the Jacob’s ladder because we had to work as a team and communicate to help people get up.”

Back at school we returned tired, but happy after three wonderful days full of adventures!

View photos here.