Monday 11th of November
The Welsh say that Wales is ‘God’s own country’ and it certainly felt like that when we arrived at Pendarren shortly after midday. The brilliant sunshine showed the stunning autumn colours of the Brecon Beacons National Park at their best and gave us a wonderful afternoon in the great outdoors. After a play outside, a picnic lunch and a tour of the house, we got going with our first activities. For many of us that meant climbing Sugar Loaf Mountain and then watching the sun go down over the Welsh hills as we descended. Other groups used orienteering skills to navigate around Pendarren House and grounds. The children then had their first Pendarren supper which was followed by unpacking, a fire drill and a room inspection. Never a dull moment! Everyone settled down to sleep quickly in anticipation of more fun to be had on Day 2.
Tuesday 12th of November
After a surprisingly good night’s sleep (all children slept through the night!), we were treated to a hearty breakfast of cereal, toast, beans, sausages, waffles and mugs of steaming tea. Then dorms were tidied ready for room inspections before splitting off into our groups and getting kitted up for our activities. Some children went pond dipping in the Pendarren grounds, finding newts, water snails, shrimps and more, and using the classification skills they have developed in science lessons to identify the species they had netted. Others set off on a canoeing adventure, improving their skills to a point where many could even stand up and paddle. A few then toppled in to the canal and many jumped in voluntarily! Two of the groups set off on a river study for the whole day. We jumped into minibuses and travelled through the stunning Welsh countryside to the source of a river. Following the river down into a vast underground cave network was such an exciting experience for us all, and allowed the children to develop teamwork, resilience and physical skills as we navigated our way through a series of tunnels and chambers in search of the river. Finishing off our river study with a visit to a magnificent waterwall was a fun end to the daytime activities, before heading back to Pendarren House for hot showers all round. We have finished off our action packed day with a fantastic visit from a local story teller, whose engaging, faced paced and interactive tales had us all on the edge of our seats. Everybody is looking forward to another good night’s sleep, ahead of a busy day tomorrow!
Wednesday 13th November
After a slightly earlier night, Year 6 woke feeling refreshed and raring to go. Some were even practising their shuttle runs on the stairs at 6:30am! The children are now very used to the daily routines: they are scoring ever higher on morning room inspections, are clearing the dining tables politely and efficiently and are getting much quicker at getting into the right kit to start the day’s adventures. Luckily for us, the sun was shining again as we set off in our various minibuses or stayed onsite to complete the next round of activities. Today’s river study and caving trip was truly exhilarating. At the waterfall stop, the children crawled across slippery rocks, then stepped into a shallow pool and voluntarily rolled through flowing water that was gushing over a smooth step of rock. After looping back round, they chose to have another go…or three! Onsite activities were also hugely enjoyed and many children pushed themselves to go high and fast on the climbing wall, impressing us all with their determination, strength and agility.
It was sad to have to say goodbye to Emma at lunchtime but we were excited to welcome Nick as her replacement. We are glad to report that he’s settled in nicely, having wisely brought more supplies of filter coffee for the adults. After supper, we headed outside to a moonlit garden. There we played a high octane version of ‘grandmothers footsteps’ with the children racing to try and be the first to reach the end of the lawn without falling foul of all the silly rules Rhoda and Nick could think of. We think we did a pretty well with tiring them all out before bedtime.
At this midpoint of the week, we are all realising that time is passing quickly so we’ll certainly be making the most of the remaining one and a half days!
Thursday 14th November
Another beautiful day dawned for us at Pendarren with the children ready for more thrills and spills. Those who hadn’t yet been caving braced themselves for the dreaded ‘letterbox’ and those who had not yet canoed discussed whether or not they were planning to jump in the water just for the sheer fun of it. It has been lovely to see this week how many children have undertaken a challenge that they might have initially thought was beyond their capability. The teamwork has developed brilliantly too. Children have been trusting each other with their lives on the climbing wall, looking out for who in their group might need help, checking with teachers what might need to be done next, reminding one another to be on time for briefings and generally rising above and beyond.
Luckily, we all still had enough energy for a little packing and room tidying followed by the traditional Thursday night disco. As soon as the tuck shop was declared open, any money not already spent at the Big Pit museum was exchanged for sweets and gifts. Thanks to Nick, the disco was a high-tech event with (semi) professional lighting and visuals, not to mention a super song-list selected by the children. We were impressed by the children’s dance moves and when the last song had played, they were dispatched to bed ready for an earlier than usual in start in the morning.
