Day 5 - Team Building with Neil and Rob

This morning we had lots of fun with Neil and Rob, during a team building activity.

When we arrived at the hall, we saw three stacks of tyres. We were put into teams and were told that we had to travel from one side of the hall to the other using only the tyres and try not to fall off into the 'Acid Swamp'.

During the activity Neil and Rob would blow a whistle and give us challenges. If they said Alligators, we had to work silently for 30 seconds. If they said Magic Trainers the leader of the team could walk through the acid swamp. There were also others such serpents, where we had to sing the Wheels on the bus, Gorillas where we had to reverse for 30 seconds and crocodiles which meant we had to sing and dance like Beyonce.

Most of the groups fell off the tyres which meant we had to start all over again. Michelle's group had to go back a number of times.... however, once Michelle left to do playground duty, the team suddenly became the best team and got to the other side before any one else! What does that tell us about Michelle?!

This activity helped us to realise it is important to work together at all times to achieve success (and if you can... don't have Michelle in your team!)

This afternoon we watched:

In the afternoon we watched the film 'Hoodwinked'. It was very funny and we enjoyed popcorn, marshmallows and chocolate rolls!

An excellent week was had by all!

Day 4 - "We are sailing.... again!"

Day four has turned out to be yet another fun filled day for us! We walked down to Fairlop Waters again, all excited at the activities that laid ahead.

When we arrived at the sailing centre, Phil (the instructor), told Miss Simmonds we were going to be doing the same thing as Tuesday but Miss Simmonds wanted us to try something different so today we had the chance to go sailing again, but with the large and small sail on the boat this time and then open canoeing in the afternoon.

We were shown how to attach the large sail to the mast and how we were going to steer it. It looked very complicated and we found out it was when we got onto the high seas! A few boats had trouble steering and ended up crashing into the boats and the island but it was great fun!

Here are some pictures of us sailing:

Conor getting the 'Gip' sail ready to hoist up the mast.

Callan, Inquiyad and Nithurshun having a little help to get back to the jetty

After lunch we went Open Canoeing. We had to go into pairs and steer a canoe. It was hard at first but a lot of fun. Phil told us that there was a higher chance of us falling in the water from this activity and gues what..... 5 of us did! Inquiyad, Ian, Callan, Iisa and Felix all had an early bath!

Traffic Jam!

Man overboard!

I don't think Callan enjoyed his early bath!


Videos of the day.

Another great day was had by all.

We are actually quite sad that the week is nearly over, but we are looking forward to the team building morning and cinema afternoon tomorrow!

Day 3 - A fun day in school!

After two exciting days out of school, we had a nice day in school today!

In the morning, Miss Simmonds taught us a new type of printing called 'Lino Printing'. We traced a picture of a famous monument in London onto a small lino tile. We then had to cut the lino away using quite sharp tools... a few of us ended up with plasters on our fingers!

Once we cut out our picture we chose a colour and printed it onto material.

Here are some pictures of us creating our print.

Ian rolling the paint ready!


Cutting out the design

The finished product!

During the morning we also cooked our lunch with Ann and Michelle. We made our own pizza, with toppings of our choice. Some children (Inquiyad!) put EVERYTHING on top of his while others (Callan!) had very little! As well as pizza we had salad, jacket potato and homemade garlic bread. It was delicious!

Inquiyad and the start of his colossal pizza!

Mmmmm.... tasty!!!!

In the afternoon we had lots of fun with Pete and Danny in the Junior Hall. We learnt how to put someone into the recovery position and then played lots of different games. Our favourite was Dodgeball!

Preparing to move into the recovery position

Londra placing Monique into the recovery position

Playing Benchball

Playing Dodgeball

Another great day was had by all!

What a week!

Messages from the children and staff on Activity Week. Here I am at Fairlop waters trying to hide in a shell.... unfortunately I was unsuccsessful!!!!!They managed to find me and i had to go in the freezing waters once again!!!!

I almost made a escape in a sailboat but the wind stoped!!!!

Conor R aka Turtleman!

My favourite day - Ian

I really enjoyed Fairlop Waters. It was great fun. My favourite part was sailing. We learnt how to set up the boat ready to set sail and we had to race across the lake from one side to the other!

Making the pizza - "Michael.... where is your cheese?!"

When we were making our pizzas, I thought I was so fantastic finishing first... but then Ann noticed that I had forgotten the main ingredient.... CHEESE!!!!! When I put the cheese on and it was cooked, it tasted delicious.... but I do wonder what it would have been like without the cheese!"!!!! Michael

Amy B: I enjoyed the sailing. Me and Leah were scared first of all because we didnt' know what to do but when we got going it wasnt scary at all.

Abida: I really liked the IMAX cinema. Me, Leah, Khia and Amy were really scared of the dinosaurs and the sharks... we thought they were going to eat us!

Michelle: You can keep your bellboats but sailing was excellent but canoeing was even better! Ship Ahoy captain!
Miss Simmonds: I enjoyed being scared in the Imax Cinema and when sailing with Yvonne and Ann! Ship Ahoy!
Ann: I loved the canoeing! Ship Ahoy!

All the staff of Activity Week would like to thank the children for the fantastic behaviour all week. They have made it so much fun and it is such a shame it has had to end!

Our views of the week!

Day 2 - Fairlop Waters

Today we went to Fairlop Waters to take part in sailing and bellboating activities.

At first we were a bit worried because of the weather, but Miss Simmonds rang Fairlop and they said there would be no problems for us to go and have a good day!

There were a mixture of feelings, some of excitement, anticipation and fear! On the way to Fairlop Waters, there was a lot of talking about falling in the water! It wasn't only the lake we had to worry about getting wet in, on our way through Penrith Park we were faced with a water logged path and Miss Simmonds getting stuck climbing through a barrier!

Help! I'm a teacher... Get me out of here!

AAARRGGHHH!!!! No way through!!!!!

Luckily good old Ann and Luke found a hole in the hedge which we squeezed through! When we finally arrived at Fairlop Waters, we were given a brief safety talk, split into groups and kitted out into very fashionable wetsuits!

All the girls ready to go!

Miss Simmonds and Ann's group raring to go!

Michelle and Luke's group waiting eagerly to get on the lake!

"Breath in Luke, the instructor has told me to tighten yours!"

We were split into two groups, one went sailing first and the others went bellboating. In the afternoon we swapped over.

With the sailing, we were given instructions to rig up the sail and place the udder in the correct position. We were then left on our own to steer the boat from one end of the lake to the other. We all did very well and managed to stay on course!

The bell boaters had to work together as a team to steer a large boat around the island and up and down the lake. We were given a task when we stopped right in the middle of the lake to swap seats with the people at the other end of the boat. This was great but the best bit was when the adults thought they had got away with not doing it had another challenge! They had to walk down the middle of the boat while we rocked it! Ann and Luke managed to do this but Miss Simmonds and Michelle didn't! They tried but we rocked it so bad that they thought they would end up in the murky waters!

It was a great day, as you can see from the pictures below. We can't wait to return there on Thursday!! Setting the sail

"We are sailing!"

The Bellboaters!

Swapping seats... Scary!!

Ann after completing the teacher's challenge... "See, you didn't rock it hard enough!"

"Oh dear Miss Simmonds! Did we rock the boat too hard for you? Ha! Ha! Ha! ! "