Rucstall Primary School
A caring, fun loving, learning community
Celebration
Co-operation
Creativity
Equality
Honesty
Perseverance
Respectfulness
Wednesday
5am: Wednesday morning, the midpoint of the trip and, as always, I’m in reflective mode. Yesterday afternoon’s weather forecast wasn’t as good as originally forecast but, apart from that, this trip has run very smoothly and to plan. As I look out of the window there appears to be a few dark clouds on the horizon – hopefully we won’t have any rain showers later on today. By 2.30pm yesterday I was beginning to wish I’d changed into my long trousers but I’m remaining optimistic and have donned the shorts again today. Blackgang Chine is quite hilly so all the climbing may help to keep me warm but I’m taking along a couple of extra layers of tops just in case. Mrs Healy has taken advantage of the unlimited supply of colourful hoodies found abandoned on benches, play parks and walls - I think she had 3 on to keep warm at one point.
It’s blissfully quiet here at the moment so I thought I’d give you all a quick update. It’s been a wet and windy night outside and clearly these are not good conditions for asthmatic foxes as, happily, he didn’t show up outside my window last night with his wheezing and hacking cough. It does appear though that the cousin of the asthmatic fox is sleeping in the room above me: snoring so loud that my room is vibrating – fortunately Mr Fifield obviously turned over in the night and all was quiet from 3am.
OK, it’s almost 5.30am - one of my favourite times on the residential. Miss Radford and I for the last few years always sit out on the balcony to reminisce over a cup of tea. We enjoy the peace and tranquility whilst looking out at the sea. It's one of the only times on the trip I am not glued to the laptop so I shall leave the blog here. See you in a bit!
Before descending to the lounge, I went on the rounds of the 3 boys’ rooms where there were many bleary eyes and confused looks, but all were well.
Let’s start today’s tall tales with a very positive report of life in Room F9 where some of the boys have shocked me. Last night during room inspection, the floor was utter carnage. There were shoes everywhere which leads me to believe they must be sharing with a small family of octopus however, the wooden rectangular box thing with 5 drawers was actually being employed for its desired purpose. I only opened the top drawer to make a point…and discovered a single t-shirt, neatly folded. Encouraged, I ploughed on and to my utter disbelief realised that the other drawers were completely full of clothes, some even neatly arranged. Gold stars were immediately awarded to Frankie and Charlie whilst Ujwal got a silver star as he’d adopted slightly more of a ‘throw it all in there and hope for the best’ tactic. Nevertheless, he was as delighted as I was. “Silver Star…I’ll take that” he said.
In Room F11 several of the boys were already awake. Jenson’s head appeared swiftly from beneath a duvet. “What time is breakfast, I’m starving” he said. “And a very good morning and happy Wednesday to you too” I replied. Interestingly, after miraculously disappearing last night, the festering monochrome mound had returned, only this time it was slightly bigger. We are definitely dealing with nocturnal creatures in the room , so a family of badgers remains my main line of investigation.
The delicious aroma of sausage had begun to drift from the kitchen which means breakfast is being prepared. More of the boys have arrived in the lounge and the Dobble cards have struck up again. It is wonderful to see them playing a game that involves no techie gadgets but lots of communication, strategy and conversation – this is what a Year 6 residential is all about.
Ok, with the girls beginning to filter in to the lounge, I’ll sign off for now as we get them all ready for breakfast and a sharp exit to the coach afterwards. Next post will be at some point this evening.
Today was spent at Blackgang Chine. The children enjoyed countless rides as well as opportunities to play in the parks. Extinction, the most-thrilling ride, was absolutely terrifying. The poor adults were forced to go on by the children. For those children who went on the ride – we could not be prouder of them. This is what a Year 6 residential is all about – breaking down barriers, stepping out of the comfort zone, facing down fears and conquering them. Absolutely wonderful…and they all went back on a second time. Self-esteem credit in the bank.
We headed for The Wild West and spent some time acting as Cowboys. You'll see some of the children taking part in a rather...umm...odd...rituals within the chapel. I'll blame the Mayan History lessons with the sacrifices for that inspiration. Other children decided to ride some of the horses - look out for Mr Fifield who decided to have a go too (sighs...) We intended to only spend 20 minutes there but we ended up staying longer.
The children enjoyed Fairy Tale Land. Miss Radford joked about kissing the frog ornament to turn it into a prince. What she wasn't expecting was for all the children to actually kiss the disgusting statue - let's hope the children do not all end up ill today.
Well done to the lovely Julie who spotted all the missing crabs during the 'Under the Ocean' maze. To celebrate, she's purchased her brother a nautical gift.
After a hectic day at Blackgang we headed back to the luxurious accommodation for dinner. The theme of today's dinner was...beige. I promise I am trying to be impartial when it comes to the elections but even the centre seems to be promoting the Liberal Democrats with the sea of orange food. Even more disappointing, the children loved the food!
Following dinner we got back on the coach and headed to Shanklin. First up was the arcade. This is where I have to change the tone of the blog. I'm not usually one to be negative - particularly not on an open blog but I am bitterly disappointed by the behaviour witnessed this evening. Even more disappointing when you have heard all the lovely comments from the day before. Anyway, suffice to say, I was absolutely disgusted to see someone hitting the 2p machine in rage because they had run out of money. Please do not worry, I have spoken to Miss Radford who has apologised profusely. This was then overshadowed by Mr Fifield who was caught kicking the machine in the hope to get it working. Thank heavens the children were very well-behaved.
After the arcade, we headed to the beach to allow the children to collect a pebble or shell for a souvenir keepsake. This was then followed by the visit to the Rock Shop. Dearest parents will find we have re-stocked the children's sweet supply for when they return on Friday. And please do not worry parents, we've told the children not to eat the sweets because we know you'll want them to be on a sugar-high all weekend.
As I was leaving the sweet shop, the gentleman from the shop ran out after me because he wanted to say something. It looked important and he clearly wasn’t letting me leave without saying it. “Your children are an absolute credit to you all. They are so polite and it makes such a difference to our work. You’d be surprised how few schools we can say that to each summer.” We’ve heard that before this week but it still sounds wonderful and should continue to make you all feel very proud.
The children are now in their rooms with the lights off. We're hoping for more sleep for us all tomorrow!
