By Mrs Inkson (Head of Year 6)

Last week, Year 6 embarked on a three-day, two-night outdoor adventure to Preston Montford Field Studies Centre in Shrewsbury. Set in 30 acres of grassland and woodland on the banks of the River Severn, the Field Studies Centre is a beautiful location to visit. The focus of the trip was to develop teamwork, geographical and scientific fieldwork skills. The year group participated in a wide variety of activities including team challenges, invertebrate hunts, pond dipping, orienteering, shelter building and taking measurements using special geographical instruments.

The girls were kept busy from the moment they got up until they went to bed. On the first night they had to set humane small mammal traps filling them with hay, different foods and a slice of apple as a water source. Although they tried to make their mammal hotels warm and enticing, unfortunately no small mammals decided to come and stay! They did however, find a large number of beautiful moths in their moth traps which they were able to study. On the second night, the year group became ecological warriors, designing and testing structures that would protect birds’ eggs from damage when they fall. The girls were marked on teamwork, creativity and design and of course, if the egg survived the giant fall from the top of the fire escape! I think they were all surprised by how many survived the drop!

The whole trip was one big adventure – the opportunity to further develop friendships ahead of moving onto the Senior School was brilliant. It was an inspirational trip for everyone as the girls made a real connection with the environment and challenged themselves throughout the residential.

Isabelle (Year 6) said: “It was interesting getting to explore different habitats and learning about what lived in them.”

Chloe (Year 6) added: “It was nice to have to be more independent during the trip – we had to organise ourselves and make sure we went down to breakfast on time!”

View the outdoor adventure photos here.