Oxford - Day 2

The second day in Oxford has been amazing!!

After a very early start, we had a huge breakfast and then got our wellie boots on for what appeared to be the muddiest day of our lives!!

Our teamwork and communication skills were put to the test as we were blindfolded and navigated around a muddy assault course. Mrs Pape and Kian were very thorough directing each other through the extremely squelchy mud.  Then our balance and collaboration skills were required for a low rope course where we discovered Miss Dale has little coordination and spends lots of time falling off benches.

At lunchtime we had some yummy lasagne, lemon sole and cheese pastries. After that we teamed up and made shelters in the forest! Exchanging ivy and horsetail for money to buy tarpaulin and rope. The shelters were fantastic and even with a  bucket of water thrown over them, remained intact. With Mrs H's fantastic searching skills, the game was brilliant.

After some free play, we took part in bushcraft, with some particularly skilled lighting from Merlin and Ellie, and some fantastic determination from Beau. The fires were a lovely end to day 2. The children them toasted marshmallows and made s'mores, a first for Tommy!!!

The staff are all very impressed with the children for giving everything a go, tasting all the foods and being very helpful and considerate.

After TP and Mrs Humberstone had enough food to feed a small army, the children had showers and had a brief tidy, with yet another change of clothes for the girls!! Most changes of clothes award has to go to Bethy, Maisie and Millie May. Boys had a fantastic game of football.

We then had our DVD, hot chocolate and chocolate cornflake cakes. The children have now fallen asleep at an impressive speed, super excited about Oxford Castle tomorrow!!

Oxford - Day 1

"I have loved the whole day, best day ever!!" - India

Day 1 has been a hit! We started off our journey with singing, I-Spy, then more singing. Our journey culminated in a very exciting stop at the services. After a few hours we arrived in sunny Oxford. We boarded the Serafina 2nd, where we meet Peter and Mark. The children asked many questions and discovered a lot about pirates, Robin Hood and boats. And we did some more singing!!!

"My favourite part was when the boat was turning on the Thames and it looked like we were going to crash... but we didn't!!" - George.

"The cruise was my favourite part of the day" - Merlin.

We had lunch onboard and continued our cruise in the sunshine. At about 1pm, we said goodbye to Mark and Peter, and travelled to Stansfeld.

After a big task of making our own beds, we munched on some sandwiches and were told that if we didn't want to eat vegetables we didn't have to. Although all of us did!

"The best part of the day was the orienteering because we got to go off on our own and explore the woods and I learnt how to use a map" - Kian, Bethy and Millie

We then went into woods and gave orienteering a go. We definitely have some budding adventurers in Moore Class!! We navigated, explored and searched high and low looking for clues.

Dinner was a key part of the day and we enjoyed chicken, fish and some vegetables with a hot sponge and custard for dinner!!!

After, we had the much antiicpated 'Moore Class Has Got Talent'. We had singers, dancers, comedians, speed stackers and a mixture of all the above. Photos will follow.... who knew we had the next Taylor Swift and Olly Murs with us in Oxford.

Then after some hot chocolate and cookies, we played outside in our pjs!! Miss Dale showed off her excellent javelin skills and Mrs Humberstone is a whizz at running. Mrs Pape met the the paparazzi on the slide.

"The hot chocolate was delicious and the talent show was fabulous" Beau, Ellie and Tilly.

Now our explorers are tucked up in bed (although very much awake), ready for an exciting day tomorrow....

Maths Week - Day 4

We have gone maths crazy today! All the children came to school wearing a colourful variety of patterned clothing, then embarked on a carousel of maths activities ranging from tessellating fish to mirror symmetry! Two of our school governors Jenna Leight and Michael Wood arrived to join in the fun too! The afternoon involved the children from KS2 teaming up with our younger mathematicians to play their hand-made maths games. They worked really hard to explain the rules and to ensure that all of the children used the correct maths vocabulary involved and had a fair chance to win. The day was a roaring success and we look forward to tomorrows Celebration Assembly to find out who has managed to gain the highest Mathletics scores!

Maths Week - Day 2

Today, Palmer and Barton class went off to Wisley Gardens, so it was up to Cameron and Moore Classes to fly the flag for Maths week!

In Cameron Class, we started the day by taking a look at the link between fractions, decimals and percentages.  Although a tricky lesson, we all worked really hard and were able to complete the work quickly.  This afternoon we have researched famous mathematicians and created information pages to show what we have found.  Did you know that Fibonacci spent almost all his time watching chickens?!  In groups, we looked at Galileo, Einstein, Newton, Fibonacci, Pythagoras and Archimedes.

In Moore Class, we linked our Maths with our Literacy work, combining coordinates and fantasy worlds!  We had to design and create our new worlds on a grid and add details, then plot the coordinates for each place. 

The Mathletics competition is now underway, and children are busy collecting points.  Can you get the highest score and receive one of those prizes on Friday?

Maths Week - Day 1

What a fun start to Maths week!

In Barton Class, we have been playing lots of games that use 'dot dice', both in and out of the classroom!  We also had a challenging question on numberlines - one of the animals was jumping 2 leaves at a time and the other was jumping 10 - which one would get to the end fastest?!

In Palmer Class, we were investigating number sentences and how the number sentences can be moved around - we learnt a posh new word called 'inverse'!  Some of us were using number triangles to show that all the numbers are linked!

In Moore Class, the children have been group teaching subtraction on a number line - some of us learnt how to do it first and we passed on our knowledge to another group of children.  We loved being teachers and we all understood it by the end of the lesson.

In Cameron Class, we have been creating our own games to teach to Barton and Palmer - we want to teach them new things and so are going to use games to make it fun for them!  Some of us are using money, while others of us are making counting games.

This week we are running a Mathletics Challenge - the three children that manage to get the most points over the course of the week will get a prize! There may also be a small prize for all children that manage to get a certificate this week!

Tomorrow, while Palmer and Barton Class are visiting Wisley Gardens, it will be Moore Class' turn to make games for the younger children.  Meanwhile, Cameron Class will be looking at the fun of fractions, decimals and percentages using cakes and pizza!

Hardelot - Day 5

Wow, where has the week gone? It's gone so fast, but we have managed to fit so much into a short time! Today, our final day, was the first day we woke up without the help of Mrs Pape! We have adjusted to the time change just in time to come home - prepare for early mornings for the next few days!

Most children were packed before we even went across for breakfast - there were lots of us eager to get home now! Once we had eaten our fill, we headed back to the dormitories to make sure we had collected everything. Mrs Pape warned everyone there was a €1 fine for anything left behind - funnily enough every bedroom was clear when they were checked over!

After a sad farewell to Miriam and Julien we set off for Chateau Hardelot - our final visit of the trip. They had set up an exhibition all about Queen Elizabeth II, with photos from the magazine 'Paris Match'. It was actually quite interesting to see the queen at different points during her reign and to see how popular she is with the French.

We then went for a walk to burn a little energy - there is a path to the back of the chateau that takes you around a lake, it was very pretty. Next, it was off to City Europe for lunch and to buy our final gifts. We know you're going to love them...well, if they make it home in one piece that is!

We are currently on the M20 making our way back to Shoreham - the cheer that went up as the coach touched down on British soil was deafening! While on the Eurotunnel, the edible gifts seem to have disappeared - not sure what happened to those but the hyper children could be some indication!

Signing off now, thank you so much for such wonderful comments and for reading the blog - it makes it worthwhile writing it knowing that there's people out there reading it! Everyone is looking forward to their favourite meals for dinner tonight - we're pretty sure that's what we have all been promised!

- Cameron Class

Hardelot - Day 4

With our holiday almost at an end, we packed in as much as we possibly could into our final full day! Mrs Pape had to wake us all up again (they've done a great job of tiring us out!) and we had a quick breakfast of baguette before heading off to the bakery to see how the baguettes we had just eaten were made. As the baker spoke absolutely no English, Mrs Pape had to translate it all for us - who knew she was word perfect in French?! Well, almost anyway! 

After the tour we were whisked off to Boulogne where we went for a quick walk along the sea front (we were an hour early for the sweet factory!) - we tried to see the UK, but unfortunately it was too misty.  By this time the sweet factory was ready for us, so we went inside and met a crazy man and his translator, who gave us fantastic demonstrations of how to make both hard and soft sweets. It was fascinating and we found out all kind of facts - plus we now know how to make hard candy at home - so be prepared for some messy demonstrations in kitchens!  We were allowed to try the sweets we saw made; they tasted great and Billy was amazed at how quick they were to make, and how easy it was too!  Elise and Olly had a go at pouring the sweets into the mould to make hard sweets - they were fantastic and the Boss wanted them to stay and help him - Miss Salmon wasn't too sure their parents would be happy with that, but if you are just let us know and we'll send them back to the factory!  Mr Fuller, however, wasn't as good and made a huge mess of it!  It wasn't until the end that the Boss told us that he had taken part of the nozzle off!

Bob then drove us to the Ceramics Factory, where we sat outside and had lunch.  As we were early for that too, we were all allowed a run around outside before we went inside.  The boys found another zombie bunker and developed a game called 'Zombie', which was some kind of strange hybrid between Bulldog and Hide & Seek!  

We became zombies!

Unbeknown to the teachers, it was VERY muddy where we were playing, so when we entered the ceramics factory, with its pristine white floor, it became rather less pristine!   

After being handed a translation device, we started off on our tour of the museum.  We had to press numbers to find out information about the different pieces of pottery.  Mrs Pape and Jenna thought it was very interesting, and the rest of us enjoyed looking at the variety of pottery that had been made in the town.   The best part of the ceramics factory was at the end, when we all got a chance to make our own cups!  We had to use tools to help us mould and shape the clay and we were led by a lovely lady called Stephanie.  
 

Making pottery with Mr Fuller!

 The cups came out with varying degrees of success - but we'll leave you to be the judge of how great your own child's was!  Bella deserves a particular mention at this point as, not only did she make a cup, but she also managed to make a teapot and a cat figurine from the clay she was given!  She's a Henry Moore in the making!

Bella's finished product!

 Once we had finished, we all headed back to the Hardelot Centre - by this time it was so late that we barely had time to get showered and ready for dinner, but we managed!  Dinner was boeuf bourgninon, which everyone enjoyed (the cheese course was another matter - we now all smell of stinky feet!).  This evening we voted to have a talent show instead of watching a film and we have been regaled with magic tricks, a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle and an amazing dance to the Harlem Shake by some of the boys!  The great thing?  There's videos so you can all see your children's wonderful talents!!

One of the big memories of this holiday is the number of us that are card sharks - George taught everyone how to play Blackjack, Chris taught the boys poker, and there were card tricks galore!  Thaila kept Mr Fuller entertained with her card tricks for much of today's journeys - I'm not convinced they were actual tricks though, more just moving the chosen card to the top or the bottom of the pack and announcing it in a grand manner!

Hot chocolate has just arrived, so its off to bed for all of us now in preparation for our last day tomorrow - we have all had a great time but are really looking forward to seeing you all and showing you all the fab gifts we have been able to buy.  We hope you've enjoyed reading the blog as much as we have enjoyed writing it!

~Cameron Class & the teachers

Today's blog was brought to you by Elise, Katie, Billy and Miss Salmon.