Kingswood
2017
20th - 22nd September
Welcome to the 2017
Kingswood blog, a tongue in cheek view of St Johns on tour, bringing the
culture and etiquette of Leicester to the unprepared of Norfolk.
It is now 10am and we
have been travelling for approximately 45 minutes, and yes, we have handed out
2 sick bags so far, though thankfully neither have been filled as yet. The
aroma in the coach has changed from one of a neutral essence to a mix of salt
and vinegar crisps mixed with Haribo and cheesy Doritos. Thankfully the need
for protection against anti-gravity digestion matter has led to the air vents
being opened which has saved the nasal assault but has had other repercussions:
Apparently
the nasal assault has begun again as an exclamation from a few rows back brings
the normal pre-teen response of ‘ewww’ and ‘erghh’. Gravity has resumed its
normal journey as toxic gases seek their freedom from the afore mentioned soon
to be digested sweets and crisps.
Surprise
surprise, our lunch stop is nice and tranquil, the children quietly sat on a
log and actually had some lunch left to eat! Then it was to the beach and what
a nice summers scene greeted us. The temperature was warm enough for one of our
more literate members of staff to bemoan ‘cor, I’m hot!!!’. Booker prize quote
that one!! Anyway, here is the scene for you all to enjoy:
Here
is another one which is the first in the trips captain competition. Please add
your own if you wish.
‘What,
you expect me to walk that far??’
‘Srish,
where’s my bikini?’
‘Are
my eyes deceiving me or is that France?’
‘You
said, leave no one behind!’
Currently the group are touring the grounds before they begin their
first activity in 30 minutes. More to come later except just to finish we
already have a contender for the quote of the week; 'What timezone are we in?'
Activity 1: Laser Quest
To explain, each member of the teaching staff has been allocated a group
for the activities. To enable me to get around all the children we will change
groups for different sessions and in that way I can see and comment/photograph
as many children as possible doing wonderful things.
This
started with an explanation of the key learning objectives - Communication,
Teamwork and Problem Solving. I will come back to that in a bit.
There
were three teams all trying to outdo each other in battle. As keen as ever Jo
made up the numbers and got stuck into her role, to defend the base at all
costs!!
The
flip flops clearly didn't help and here team suffered a humiliating defeat.
We
clearly had a few professionals in our midst - Matthew B for one was
deadly with his laser gun, I don’t know how he managed to avoid being hit but I
was studying is every move.
For
the next match up Jo had used up all her Rambo killer instinct and handed her
weapon over to me. Not missing an opportunity to teach the children a lesson I
communicated a plan to the team, Jack C tweaked my plan and we worked as a team
and managed to solve the problem of being hit on the headband which reduced our
cyber health. The plan worked, our communication was on the button and Jayden,
Cliff, Jack and I reigned supreme. The other team were incensed as they said
that putting my hood up over the headband was cheating!! Nooooo, I just solved
the problem of death - I think there is a Christian talk in there somewhere!!
Dinner
consisted of a meat pie or macaroni cheese, nothing else to report there so I
will quickly move on to the evening activity completed by all…..Bottle Rockets.
The
children were split into groups and then had to design their own bottle rocket
that would fly high but keep intact a filled water balloon, once it had
re-entered the orbit of course.
The
rockets were very successful in distance travelled but due to this were not
that careful with their cargo. Only one bottle managed to keep their balloon as
required and this was gladly emptied over the activity leader’s head by Alicia.
I have attempted to send back a video of the best rocket.
As
I type the children are all in bed and all is quiet. It is 10.30pm so here’s
hoping for a continuation of the same, more great weather tomorrow and further
opportunities to extend the learning of the children. Night.
