Stubbington - Day 3

It's day 3 at Stubbington Study Centre and everyone is a little more rested - all children were asleep by half past nine without any fuss!

This morning, Mr Harcombe joined us for the bedroom inspection - we think he was impressed by our tidiness. Well done to kestrels and badgers for winning the most points this morning.

Group A's first activity this morning was earthquake - this is the one we have all been waiting for.

After stocking up with handy equipment we made our way around a tricky assault course, being careful not to drop anything (or anyone) in the lava and rescuing people along the way. This really tested our teamwork skills and we had LOTS of fun!

Towards the end, we had to make it over lava leap by swinging on a rope. Some of us were really successful...

...some of us were not so successful!

Miss Simpson had a go too. She fell in but we couldn't snap it in time!

A big well done to Owen who demonstrated excellent communication skills and Charlotte who was excellent at encouraging the rest of her team. 

Meanwhile, Group B took part in the 'egg'streme challenge we told you about yesterday. Can you guess who is in this picture?

Well done to these two groups whose egg survived the trebuchet flight!

These two groups did not care for the egg quite so well but did try extremely hard and worked really well as a team. 

After lunch, Group A and B joined together to search for animal tracks and signs. We found some interesting badger holes, some pine cones that had been nibbled at and even and badger's paw print in the mud. 

Amazingly, one child even spotted a hedgehog?!?!

We then built mammal hotels in the hope of finding some furry friends. We stuffed our mammal hotels with hay, apple and seed to make it more welcoming. 

We then left them in tubes on the ground and camouflaged them to blend in with the scenery. We will return tomorrow to see if anything decided to check in. 

And now for the big reveal... the winners of the Stubbington fox awards this evening are: Ellie Murrell for being brave and trying new things; Matthew Gamblin for being well organised; Lauren Guest for having and 'egg'cellent attitude in the he 'egg'streme challenge; and Edith Millson for being a true friend to everyone. Well done!

A minute ago, Mrs Holt, Mr Jones and Mr Pople arrived to visit us - Mrs Hadlow is on her way too. 

We are all about to play hide and seek in the dark and then go to the hide to watch for badgers. We will let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Stubbington - Day 2

We woke this morning after a 'peaceful' night of rest. We had a couple of tears at bedtime last night but they cleared up quickly and everyone was smiling again by the morning.  

After a filling breakfast, it was time for a bedroom inspection. Every day, Mr Scarborough and his team will check that we have made our beds, folded our clothes and cleaned our bathrooms of clutter - they are very strict! If we do well we earn points for our team. Well done to the foxes who earned the most points this morning. 

We then set off on our first set of activities...

Group A's activity was the 'eggstreme' challenge. For this we had to work in teams to complete some tricky tasks. For each task we completed we received counters for our team - we soon learnt to work together for the best results. 

Next, we visited the materials shop. Here we were given an egg and the chance to exchange our counters for a range of different materials. The aim of the task was to use the materials to create cushioning for the egg so that it could survive a flight. 

Finally, it was time to test how well our designs would work. We inserted our eggs into a large trebuchet and flung them across the courtyard. A massive well done to Jason, Hollie, Emmy, Emily S, Tom O, Jake and Tom K who managed to make their egg survive the flight!

Meanwhile, Group B took part in the shelter building and orienteering activities that we told you about yesterday. 

A big well done to Charlie who demonstrated excellent teamwork skills whilst building his shelter and Louis and Presley who completed the orienteering task in the fastest time.

In the afternoon, we all took a trip down to the beach - it was cold but we had lots of fun. Even the stones were smiling!

We took part in three activities at the beach: 

1. We built rock pools from creatures we found on the sea shore. We found periwinkles, anemones, mussels and crabs. 

2. We went searching for fossils. We found a range if different ones and a couple of us found some shark teeth! 

3. We made sculptures with materials from the sea shore. 

Well done to Milly, Violet, Georgina and Chloe who were chosen as the team who created the best art work...

... and Zac, Ben, Alfie and Edward who were chosen as the children that worked the best as a team.

We have also been enjoying our free time. Especially when we get to play on the adventure playground!

Today's Stubbington fox awards went to Jason for using his initiative in group challenges and Owen and Ryley for demonstrating excellent map reading skills during orienteering.

We will be back tomorrow with more Stubbington news.

Stubbington - Day 1

Our Stubbington adventure began today! We met this morning in the music room and were surprised by how much luggage the children had:

After managing to squeeze it all on the coach, we set off!

When we arrived, we had time to look around and settle into our rooms. It was then time for our first set of activities.

Group A built shelters first. We had to work in teams to build a shelter that would protect us from the rain. It was a slow start...

...but we got there in the end.

It was then time to test them out. All children climbed into their shelters whilst the adults tipped a bucket of water over them (we didn't enjoy this at all - honest!). Some children got a little more wet than others!

A big well done to Milly, Lydia, Matthew, Jason and Emily S who were chosen as the winners for building the most successful shelter. 

We then did some orienteering where we used picture clues to navigate around the Stubbington grounds. Each clue lead us to part of a message which lead us to a prize at the end (a Stubbington badge).

Meanwhile, Group B went pond dipping. 

Luckily nobody fell in and we found a range of interesting creatures, including pond skaters, snails and water boatmen. Well done to Ben who was an excellent fisherman. 

It is also a very special day for Milly today - her 9th birthday! The staff at Stubbington very kindly made her a cake and we all sang to her...

Each day we will be choosing children to receive a Stubbington fox award. Today's winners were Hannah Gamblin for helping a friend on the adventure playground and Milly Webster for demonstrating great teamwork skills whilst building a shelter. 

Overall, we have had a fantastic day and everyone is smiling. Come back tomorrow for another update :)