Before half term Year 5 enjoyed a brilliant week-long residential trip to Porthpean Outdoor Education Centre. We were blessed with wonderful weather for the 3 days which will hopefully last long in the memories of our Year 5 cohort.

After packing our bags onto the coach we set off on the hour long journey St Austell Bay where the campsite is situated. After a limited tears on departure and sick on arrival the children arrived and set their things down in their tents. You’ll be pleased to hear that the tents were regularly inspected with varying results of tidiness!

I loved the cycling, it was good fun. We started off riding around the field where we went over little ramps and stuff. We then went down a small road and then bumpy track. It was quite hard but really fun. My favourite bit was going down the giant hill because we could go really fast- Nathan, Class 11

The children were hoping to just have fun on camp, but these activities required them to engage their brains as well. The children had to show many of the skills that they show on a daily basis, teamwork, co-ordination, communication and lateral thinking. the activities included transporting a tennis ball 20 metres using only 5 meters of drainpipe; crossing a imaginary ravine using a limited number of yellow planks; all holding hands and having to untie a human arm knot. The children did really well, some were certainly better than others at listening to each other and working together! – Mr Peck

The beast was super fun! It is a wall made out of wooden planks which you have to climb over. It started off easy but got harder because it got higher when they added  more planks. Some people managed to get over on their own but others had to be helped by their friends. I managed to get over it quite a few times but I had to be helped by Dom when it got really high! I loved camp because we did lots of activities I have never done before.- Jamie, Class 12

We started with a warm up which consisted of stretches and traversing (that’s where you climb sideways just above ground level.) Then we got into our harnesses and helmets before we started climbing. It was really fun because everyone was trying their hardest and challenging themselves. I love climbing and go every week with my Mum. It was super cool to do it with my friends on camp. My favourite part of the activity was climbing up the hardest route whilst blindfolded! -Freya B, Class 12

Archery was pretty cool because we got to fire arrows at a target. We walked from the campsite to the archery range and started by having a go at hitting the target. Then we started to play some games like closest to the gold and baking a cake. To bake the cake your team have to hit all of the different colours to get all of the ingredients needed to make the cake. My team won! -Leo, Class 11

The high ropes course is an outdoor climbing thing which is high up off the ground. During the high ropes activity we did the leap of faith, zip wire, Jacob’s ladder and a 2 person battle course. The leap of faith was quite scary but really fun, you have to climb up and jump off the end of a platform whilst trying to touch the buoy which was hanging in front of you. The zip wire was amazing because you went so fast. The Jacob’s ladder was really hard as you had to climb up from pole to pole but they got further apart as you got higher. Only a few children got to the top as it was so high. Mr Stanlake made it look easy! I had to go against Zara on the battle course where you have to get past each other on the ropes to get to the top. I won as I pushed her off on the 3rd level! – Lily, Class 11

The beach day consisted of a whole host of different water based activities. The children had the chance to try 2 different activities, many of which they have never had the opportunity to try before. They could choose between; coasteering, stand-up paddle boarding, Canadian canoe rafting or sit on top kayaking. Their two activities were sandwiched with sandy sandwiches and ice-cream. It was brilliant to see the children having a real go at the activities in very testing conditions- Mr Stanlake