We arrived at a rather soggy Avon Tyrrell but within the hour, the weather had cleared up beautifully – how lucky are we! First on the agenda was to tell the very excitable children who they would be sharing a room with. After plenty of celebrations and jubilations, the cheering soon came to a pause as the children were required to make their own beds. With a little cooperation and lots of adult help, everyone is able to settle into a cosy bed tonight.

Our afternoon started with a delicious lunch (fish fingers/halloumi sticks and chips) which was swiftly followed by an afternoon jam packed with activities, including: pioneering, shelter building, archery and high ropes. During the pioneering session, the children built their very own catapults. They had to use some intricate knot styles to secure a selection of poles in place to create giant sized catapults! The children were then able to score points based on the accuracy of their aims.

It was also great to see lots of children getting out of their comfort zone as they took to the trees in the high ropes session. The instructors were brilliant at supporting, encouraging and stretching the children’s limits to as far as they felt possible and it was certainly evident during this session. Mrs Roberts was so proud of the children who took part in this as it was the first activity of their schedule and they all pushed themselves further than they thought they could.

After a filling dinner (vegetable/beef pie), three of our groups enjoyed a leisurely night walk where they learnt about the history of Avon Tyrrell and made fresh pine needle tea. The other half of the year group had a traditional ‘games night’ with lots of family games. They will swap these activities around tomorrow night to allow the children to experience all that Avon Tyrrell has to offer.

This evening, the children have settled beautifully and are already making all of the adults incredibly proud. Here are a few quotes from the children themselves about their day so far:

 “Avon Tyrrell is phenomenal and a wonderful experience so far. We got to do lots of fun activities and can’t wait for tomorrow.” Daisy and Amalia

“The food is amazing! This is the best place you’ll ever go in primary!” Bogdan and Elissa

“Everything is awesome here. I’m pretty sure this sums up everything I need to say!” Maxi

“The day was fun but there are still many adventures ahead of us. The best bit from today was probably the climbing wall. At times, I found it a bit tricky but managed to still have fun” Raegan

“The archery was so fun and we played lots of games involving our skills. Also, the food tastes really good!” Isla U

“The house is like a mansion – it’s tricky to find my way around but I’m sure I’ll pick it up quickly. The school trip has been phenomenal so far but we still have many more activities to come.” Fredie.

Keep checking in throughout the week to see what your wonderful children are getting up to. Take a look at a selection of photographs from today, more will be uploaded over the next few days.