Abernant Residential 2024 - Day 4

Day 4 - The penultimate day - World Book Day

After yesterday's sunshine, we were snapped back to reality with a misty & chilly start to the day. The chill remained throughout the day, with the odd bit of sunshine, but mostly chilly & grey today.

But that didn't stop us from completing the activities...!

First thing this morning, after another hearty breakfast, the group took on the climbing wall. Being World Book Day, we took some photos of Starlings Class extreme reading - watch out for them in Book Week! Each member of the group scaled the wall & got another chance to abseil down again afterwards.

After climbing, the Blind Trail was scheduled & the children had seen the aftermath of previous groups... mud, mud & more mud. Hesitant at first, but after a while they threw caution to the wind & got straight into the tasks, working together to navigate the course & conquer the obstacles blindfolded (guided by a partner). Once completed, we did a spot of shepherding the blindfolded children, relying on clear & concise question to wrangle them into the pen.

After lunch, we headed back down to the lake for stand-up paddle boarding & raft building. This was a chilly one on the lake with the wind coming in off the hills, but we all got out on the paddle boards & everyone was standing up at points! We did a lap of the lake, played some games of 'it' & finished off with some paddle board yoga. After a relaxing end to paddle boarding, we needed to switch our paddle boards for barrels, rope & wood to build our raft. After guidance from the instructor, the group set about building their raft, working together to build a raft that held all eleven children, which they were able to paddle out across the lake to the centre island & back again. 

Of course, it wouldn't have been a water session without a few children getting in the lake!

After dinner, our last evening session was fencing. The children learnt to 'en guard', lunge & parry their opponent's foils, before having a go at fencing one another. The children thoroughly enjoyed the session; however, I think their favourite part was challenging one another (and teachers) to a duel!

Last day tomorrow, morning of activities, before heading home.