DoE expedition Bronze award with Year 9 and 10

Year 9 and 10 took part in the DoE Bronze award independent expedition where they participated in a two day canoeing adventure from Bridgnorth to Bewdley on Thursday and then Bewdley to Stourport on Friday. 

On the first day the pupils were introduced to the instructor who was going to be guiding them along the river as they sat in their pairs in their canoe's while the instructor explained how long they were going to be canoeing and what techniques they would need to use to operate the movement of the canoe by encouraging the pupils to work as a team. Next the pupils and staff members carried their canoe's to the end of the shore. 

As they got to the shore the pupils and staff members began to set off by using their paddles to push themselves from the shore. The pupils communicated between each other by allocating who was going to move their paddle on the left or the right as they started to float along the river. 

On their journey the pupils and staff members explored the adventures of travelling under bridges and through rapids of different speeds. 

Throughout the canoeing journey the pupils and staff members had regular breaks where they enjoyed eating their lunch and going for a swim as they practiced using the techniques of freestyle and backstroke.

After the first stint of canoeing the next part of the expedition was to camp over in a field while they worked in their pairs to set up tents and sleeping bags as that was what they were going to be sleeping in for the one night. Next the pupils took on the role of cooking their own burgers and sausages on two gas stoves. 

The next day the pupils and staff members cooked breakfast of a bacon and egg sandwich, dismantled their tents and sleeping bags, and then set back off for the last part of the canoeing journey to Stourport. 

exploring Habberley Valley with Year 9

Some of the pupils enjoyed exploring the various forest and woodland areas of Habberley Valley as they showed an interest in climbing to the top of a variety of either small or high up hills and travelled through bushes or jumped over a watering trough. A small group of the other pupils in the class enjoyed taking it in turns to have a go on the rope swing as they produced the movements of either back and forth or spinning around to guide the rope in which direction they wanted to swing with one pupil saying "I want to go as high as the sky and then come back down spinning to the ground". The pupils also worked together by helping to push each other to go as high as they could with one pupil sticking their hand out for another pupil to grab as they explained "hold my hand and we can go further back together so you can go as high as the branch".  

walking around Habberley Valley and making a parachute with Year 9

The pupils showed an interest in putting up the parachute by swinging a rope and attaching it to a tree. The pupils each took a string to the parachute and with support tied the strings around a variety of branches to hold the parachute up. The pupils worked together to find the right size and length branches that could hold the string as one pupil said "these small branches won't hold the string but big ones will". 

After we finished building the parachute the pupils showed an interest in walking around Habberley Valley looking and talking about what views they could see. While we were walking we saw some stairs leading to the top of the bank and followed the path up. As we walked back one of the pupils found a tyre and wanted to see how fast and far it would travel down the stairs. The pupil said "did you see that it is quick" encouraging their peers to join in. Near to the minibus the pupils saw a small cliff, climbed to the top of it and pushed the tyre down watching it bounce. Another pupil talked about how they pushed the type saying "I pushed it with the whole of my body and all of my strength".

walk around Castle Morton Common with Year 9

The pupils enjoyed walking to the top of the Common talking about the views they could see. As we were walking we talked about how the land rovers come to test out their cars around the tracks. At the top we noticed a land rover which was stuck in the mud so the pupils went to look at the car witnessing that the engine was running. One of the pupils said "I think we should hot wheel it and drive it to the bottom of the hill". As we started to walk back down the pupils showed an interest in exploring the forest areas of the common by climbing up the small cliff coves as they worked together to help and support one another get to the top such as using their hands and legs to lift their bodies up. While they were climbing one of the pupils placed their hand out to pull their peers up. As we were walking past the cliff side view the pupils heard a noise and recognised it as a drone. One of the pupils reply was "it sounds like a hoover, my hoover at home sounds the same". 

Mid 2 Sports Relief

Some difficult challenges today for Mid 2! 

Flipping tires, lifting giant logs and setting time records with endurance games.

All in the name of Sports Relief!

Mid 2 Veg Patches!

Mid 2 making Vegetable patches! Chopping up and measuring out pallets. Fingers crossed we'll have veg in the spring to look at plant germination!

Mid 2 Log Challenge

Mid 2 created a Log Challenge over a very large Puddle a few weeks ago. They really worked together to build it and may have gotten a few TA's soggy in the process!

Sandstone Scribing, Dog Walking, Rock Exploring, and Rope Swinging

Classes have recently done some Sandstone Scribing, Dog Walking, Rock Exploring, and Rope Swinging this term.

       

                        Quote of the day:                                            Quote of the day: 

         "I'm writing riversides and everyone has to find it"    "Florence is so soft and fluffy"

Quote of the day:

                                            "Won't Kathryn break the rope swing"

Mid 2 Water Exploration & Bug Finding

Mid 2 did some Water Exploration & Bug Finding today with staff, here are some things they found: