On Monday 9th March, a group
of 8 pupils and 3 staff travelled to YHA Holmbury St Mary in Surrey Hills
for a 3 day residential. Before leaving Southampton, the group had a team
building session at Woodmill Outdoor Activities Centre. Everyone had a go at
Crate Stacking, which involved a lot of teamwork and a lot of screaming from staff!
Crate Stacking, which involved a lot of teamwork and a lot of screaming from staff!
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| Some of the boys went so high that we ran out of crates! And even Mr Harvey was unable to reach the top. |
Holmbury St Marys
Youth Hostel is set amongst woodland in the Surrey Hills. As well as having the
experience of being away from home and sharing dormitories, the pupils also
benefited from taking part in a number of activities with So Sussex. Activities
included
team challenges, such as a 'stretcher' race, Samurai, Watch Tower - the ultimate game of hide and seek - and building and then attempting to float in a Coracle boat across a very muddy and cold pond! This last activity also involved a lot of screaming from staff!
On our final
evening, we had a fireside talk from a local wildlife expert, followed by
roasting marshmallows.Daily room inspections
were an important (and competitive!) part of the visit. Pupils (and some staff)
took great pride in preparing their bedrooms for these inspections and the winners
were rewarded in our end of residential awards ceremony.
The residential was a
really positive experience for everyone involved. Many of the pupils do not get
the chance to be away from home, and they all benefited from this opportunity.
Living together and being able to be outside all day and enjoy the woodlands
gave pupils and staff the chance to build on positive relationships and
enjoy themselves. This is certainly a residential that we would like to do
again. Hopefully, the Surrey Hills 2020 Residential will be the first of many
more!
team challenges, such as a 'stretcher' race, Samurai, Watch Tower - the ultimate game of hide and seek - and building and then attempting to float in a Coracle boat across a very muddy and cold pond! This last activity also involved a lot of screaming from staff!
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| We could finally strike each other with a samurai sword without getting a consequence! |
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| We worked very well as a team and built a coracle which did not sink. |
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| Miss HP and Liam saw it as a competition but both ended up in the cold pond eventually! |
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| Miss HP was harsh with rooms' tidiness scoring, checking every nook and cranny. But it turned out that her and Miss Fornal had the messiest room of all! |
