Last Thursday, some of our ARP children took part in a camping overnight stay at school! They had been super excited throughout the entire day, saying to their teachers that they couldn’t wait for school to finish that day.
Once it had finally made it to the end of the day, the children collected their bags and sleeping bags and took them over to the staff room, where the ARP were situated for their camping experience. They put their bags down in their own spaces and sat at the table to have some snacks and drinks. They had juice and water, with a variety of biscuits; a good start to the day.
Then, they moved on to their first activity – Orienteering. For orienteering, the children had to run around the playground and find 16 letters. These letters created a secret message that the children had to try to figure out. It took a lot of teamwork and exercise, but the children eventually found the secret message, which was ‘Monteagle is Great’.
Once they finished this, the children were given some time on the adventure playground to use the climbing apparatus and the giant pirate ship. Whilst some of the children were having some free time, we asked half of the group to come and take part in some circus skill activities. This involved things like; juggling, plate spinning and stilts with bouncy balls. The children that took part in these activities loved trying to juggle and spin the plates on the stick, and laughed when the adults got involved (who weren’t very good at it).
Just before having our dinner, the children and adults had the chance to toast some marshmallows on the fire! An adult explained the safety advice to the children, but they all toasted their marshmallows safely and all had a taste. Some really liked it, others not so much, but it was nice to see everyone getting involved.
After that, we had our dinner; pizza, chips and beans. The children could not wait to sit down and have a lovely feast before moving onto the next activity. They all sat on a table in the lunch hall together, whilst sipping on juice and water, showing excellent manners throughout when asking for things.
Their final activity of the evening was what they were looking forward to the most – movie and popcorn! One of the classrooms were set up with beans bags and blankets, one for each child, and they laid on the floor together watching Disney’s ‘Hercules’. They sat there and relaxed after a long day of activities and running around.
The final part of their evening was going back to their tents, changing into their pyjamas and brushing their teeth ready to get into their sleeping bags. Once they were changed, they were given some time to talk and relax with their friends and play with their torches, before settling down to sleep.
The children really did have a fantastic time, and the adults that were with them were really happy with how well they followed instructions and took part in every activity sensibly. The ARP would also like to thank the adults who stayed to support and help to make the children’s experience be as memorable as possible.
