Hooke Court - October 2009
Monday 5th October
Fortunately the rain cleared as we arrived at Hooke Court full of excitement. Some children had clearly learned how to make their beds and with some good teamwork and a little help from Mrs Cardy their rooms were prepared. The afternoon consisted of Low Ropes and Orienteering. Teamwork featured prominently in both activities.
The children helped each other negotiate the low ropes course with words of encouragement and helping hands. There were plenty of smiles as they tried to balance, swing and manoeuvre their way around. Miss May and Mrs Cardy also enjoyed the rope swing, however, they hadn’t completed the course to earn their reward! Typical. Katie proved to be very adept at balancing with her friends Evie and Jessica on the balance test.
The children really took to orienteering. They rushed around Hooke Court in their teams looking for tiles, finding letters and solving anagrams. They all showed a great deal of enthusiasm and aptitude with most teams solving around six clues. The winners devised their own strategies and managed to solve eleven clues which was rather impressive.
We found out this evening that being in a group can help us become stronger. A cloudy evening hid the moon and stars making Hooke Court darker than normal. We set out on our Night walk trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to scare off the local wildlife. We walked through the woods listening carefully and were rewarded by the sound of an owl and some children spotted bats flying above our heads.
The children settled quickly this evening which is great as we have a long day tomorrow.
Tuesday 6th October
What a fabulous day! The children grabbed the bull by the horns and made the most of the challenges presented to them. The Hooke Court staff were full of praise for the children and the effort they put in.
Shelter Building:
A short rainy walk to the woods led us to a clearing where our four tribes needed to set up their camp. The children set to work searching for ‘y’ sticks, straight ridge poles and other suitable supports to build their shelters. They built impressive structures that could house all their tribe. Just as impressive was the way they decided to elect their leaders and create a chant to scare away opposing tribes. Not only did they sing there verses but they also choreographed some scary dance routines to go with them. Some of the children would look scarier if they smiled a little less.
Bridging the Moat:
From one success to another. The children showed us they can work together as a team, solve problems together and take on board new skills. In difficult conditions they managed to construct tripods strong enough to hold their team off the floor. Next they constructed a rope bridge between two trees and again worked as a team to support each other across the gap. Finally they put all these new skills together to carry a parcel from one side of the moat to the other without getting their feet wet. Once again all the staff were very impressed with their collaborative skills and their go for it attitude.
Everybody is having a great time and many have told us they don’t want to go home!
Wednesday 7th October
After another good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, the children were ready for our last activity at Hooke Court....rocket building! Before setting to work constructing what was to be the next generation of space rockets, the children offered ideas and hypotheses to support Newton’s laws of forces. Look out Isaac Newton!
The children worked well together to build their own models, naming them before the rocket fuel was added and they were blasted into space – the rockets not the children! Despite the rain all 12 rockets launched successfully and the parachutes deployed. The children were amazed at how high their rockets went and were even more amazed to reclaim 10 out of the 12 after their space travels – damp but still intact.
Once the children were refuelled with sandwiches, fruit and cake, we loaded the coach and set off for home.....exhausted but having had an unforgettable time!
Homebound quotes from the children:
George H: Hooke Court was fun and enjoyable. It brought the whole of Year 6 closer together.
Natalie: Hooke Court was amazing. The best experience ever.
Josh S: I enjoyed shelter building where I was the tribal leader – it was really fun.
Poppy: I loved Hooke Court because it was different.
George W: I really enjoyed Hooke Court because I did activities that I’ve never done before.
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