Residential Photos 2025
Visit here to find out what the children have been up to - fun from start to end!
Monday:
We're here! We have had a fantastic start here in Suffolk in such beautiful surroundings. The journey was relatively straight forward; we were just slowed down a bit in Ipswich due to lane closures, but otherwise great. The coach was even nicer on the inside than on the outside! Air conditioned with nice reclining seats - the high life.
The children have moved into their tents and settled well. Everybody ate something delicious for dinner this evening which was at 6:25. The staff have really been looking after us and now everybody cannot wait for the activities to start tomorrow. Currently the children are enjoying balloon splash with our designated PGL group leader. Everybody has drank loads of water and used sun cream to protect themselves and will do tomorrow as it looks like it is going to be even hotter - canoeing should be a lot of fun. Here are a few snaps from today - with many more to follow over the course of the week!
Tuesday:
Tuesday only? Feels like it must be Thursday at least! With the bare minimum of sleep to function as human beings, children and staff have had another amazing day here in the sun! It was a joy to see that canoeing was amongst our activities today. This was due to take place around 11am just as things were hotting up; I am sure the PGL staff are glad to see the back of us in that lake as never before have they had to deal with so many capsizing boats. Mrs Wastell was the first to succumb to the waves, shortly followed by...everybody really. This morning, the children also took part in a Challenge Course activity in which they had to use not only skill and strength, but great teamwork and communication to complete the course set by staff. Activities like these really help the children to learn so many life skills, and it is always a favourite of ours during Residential to see children supporting one another and working as one.
You may be wondering what the kitchen has been offering up. This morning the children could have a fry up, or cereals if they wished. Lunch was a choice of chilli con carne or a jacket potato then in the evening we enjoyed either chicken katsu curry, or macoroni cheese. Alivia declined the katsu curry, but does now realise that there are no cats used in the making of the dish.
In the afternoon, the children (mostly) had fun on a giant swing falling from dizzy heights, and also enjoyed a picturesque walk through the grounds of Bawdsey Manor and the Suffolk coast. Skimming stones was a great hit, once we had moved along the beach away from the sunbathers. Sorry in advance if you find shells in your house for the next few weeks.
We capped off a terrific Tuesday with a game of Archery Tag in front of the manor house. The children are now settling down for the evening. They are showering, they are brushing teeth, and most importantly: they are applying sun cream (in the day time, not bed time)! Actually, most importantly: they are having the time of their lives! Sorry if any typos - lack of sleep!
Wednesday:
Good evening, today has been a lovely day. So many smiles and success stories. All of the children making us so proud. Us adults check in after each activity and it is so nice hearing the stories of children accomplishing targets they had set themselves. We have had children, supposedly scared of heights, running vertically up walls, climbing up telegraph poles to then jump off, and sticking at tasks such as fire lighting until they had achieved this - even if it took a while. They have been supportive to one another - particularly when some children have needed that extra bit of TLC.
We had some heavy rain hit around 4-6am this morning, but this didn't deter our sleepers who were trying their best to make up for lost hours in the land of nod. Breakfast was around 9am and a lot of the children decided to shower beforehand. It was nice to relax, a little, on the sun lotion today. Our rain jackets were required so thank you for ensuring they were all prepared. The children had their fry up before heading to their first two activities. Between our 3 groups we took part in climbing, survival (real camping/survival skills), a beach walk, trapeze, buggy building and archery. You will see photos of these below.
For lunch, the children had either bolognaise or ratatouille (some enjoying a side of butter. Just butter). Dinner was chicken tikka masala or shepherd's pie. If you are wondering, the children who do not like these options are always fed. They have had sandwiches, toast, pasta, salads etc. Please do not worry about them going hungry. Some have packed enough treats to see them through to Year 7 in any case - the ants have taken a liking to some of these.
This evening the children are enjoying a traditional camp fire with marshmallows. They have loved the camp songs that are sung en route to each activity, so we know tonight will be a favourite of theirs. We are keeping our fingers crossed for clear skies tonight so we can gaze at the stars before bed time. Mrs Wastell imparted her knowledge on visible satellites to us on Monday (it's very impressive I must say) and she has now amassed a group of budding stargazers! We won't keep the children awake too long as they have more fun to come tomorrow, starting with breakfast at 7:55am. Ouch. We have also noticed new campers arriving next to our camp today. We are of course expecting them to be very respectful on their first night, making little noise, and causing us little disruption...
Last thing - missing our Year 6 buddies back home! Sorry you're not here with us, but pleased you are having fun!
Thursday:
Apologies for the late post this evening. The disco was proper sick (to coin a phrase overheard) so the blogger decided to stay out later. It's been an incredible day again. We had a great range of activities once more: abseiling, problem solving, Jacob's ladder, archery and buggy building for those yet to have experienced it. The photos touch upon a few of the success stories today - it is so nice when the children surprise themselves by achieving something they felt was out of reach. There were loud cheers when some of the children reached the top of Jacob's ladder today. I don't have a tape measure but it is incredibly high. It took so much heart, but also teamwork to make it to the top as the children had to use an additional rope to hoist themselves up to the next level. We were so proud of them.
We did have a good sleep last night after our stargazing. The children all loved the stargazing, or should we call it 'sit with the girl or boy you fancy time'. We tried our best to explain about the satellites but I think most of them were gazing into each other's eyes. There were lots of sightings, and Mrs Wastell even saw 2 shooting stars. Mrs Miles was looking in the wrong direction with myself. Gutted.
We woke up early to more bacon, toast etc, before having cheeseburgers for lunch and nuggets or lasagna for dinner. A good old beige day in the dining room with little complaints and many full tummies. The children even had waffles for dessert so they have been truly spoilt.
It gives me great pleasure to announce our cleanest tent winners with an astonishing 9/10. I'm not quite sure why it wasn't 10/10 to be honest. I am convinced one of the boys must've packed a Dyson, or Mrs Hinch, as it was like a palace in their tent. Erik, William, Charlie, Marshall and Theo beat some tough competition to win; they were treated to ice cream in the gift shop for their efforts much to my annoyance as they were the only tent with 5 children so it cost me more money than I had planned for. The wooden spoon went to Jake, Teddy, Narcis and Harry W. The less said about their tent the better!
The disco was a lot of fun tonight. Miss Rae, Mrs Wastell and Mrs Miles were leading the children through the classics, Barbie Girl and Cotton Eye Joe amongst them. Hopefully they are all ready for a good night's sleep now.
Enjoy the photos below. Everybody will be sad to leave, but they can't wait to see you tomorrow.
Friday:
Final photo dump then bed. No stargazing.
Thanks for the best week Year 6!
