Hill West Herald - Autumn Christmas Edition

theherald@hillwest.bham.sch.uk

Autumn Term: Christmas Edition 2018

Issue 19

Message from the Headteacher Dr Beth Clarke Christmas is a time of year that focuses our attention very firmly on family. We take time together to decorate the house and put up the Christmas tree. We think about the gifts our loved ones would really appreciate and write cards with seasonal messages of love, good health and prosperity. Perhaps more than any other time of the year, we actually get to stop our busy lives, just for a couple of days, and revel in ’family life’. We plan fun-filled activities with our children and wider family members and let our imaginations and creativity embody the fun of Christmas. We think of those less fortunate than ourselves and are genuinely grateful for each and every blessing. We know that this Christmas will be a challenging time for a member of our staff and her family having recently being diagnosed with breast cancer. We know too that some of our families are battling with similar diagnosis and members of our wider community are struggling with mental ill-health. Our love, thoughts and best wishes are will you all.

The end of every term brings with it a time for reflection but this is more pertinent at Christmas as the messages of love and peace embody the Hill West Family. As we break up for Christmas, we say goodbye to a long-standing member of staff; Mrs Sonia Scandrett will be retiring after working at Hill West for 28 years. Her love for our school is palatable and her contribution to swathes of children and families is immeasurable. I thank her sincerely on behalf of everyone at Hill West, past and present, and wish her a very long and happy retirement. The end of this term also marks the end of an era, 23 years at Hill West, for Mrs Karen Balla (senior office manager) who although is not leaving us, is relocating to Arthur Terry School to join a Primary Finance Team working across all of our schools. Karen will inevitably find the first day of the new term somewhat strange as she drives past the entrance to Hill West (this has been her regular journey since 1st September 1995) on her way to her new office. We look forward to welcoming her back once a month, with calculator in hand!

We say a temporary goodbye to Ms Kelly Bailey, Robins’ class teacher, at the end of this term too as she starts her maternity leave. Baby Bailey is due on 29th January 2019 and we look forward to welcoming her to the Hill West family. Mrs Chloe Grant will return to school in January but only for one week before she too leaves us temporarily to have her first son, due on 6th February 2019. We look forward to welcoming him to the growing Hill West family. We extend a warm welcome to two new teachers in January.

Ms Devon Ward will join us in Robins’ class and Mrs Alison Downes will join us in Hares’ class; we know that their contributions to life and work at Hill West will enhance and complement what we already do. I sincerely hope that each and every one of our children has an amazing Christmas this year with their respective families and of course will eagerly await their return to school on Tuesday 8th January 2019.

Learning Partnership News; Dr Clarke For many months now our multi-academy trust, known as the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, has been extending its support to Two Gates Primary School in Staffordshire.

This coincided with the DfE naming our trust as the official sponsor tasked with building capacity and raising standards at the school.

Many of you will remember that it was to Two Gates Primary that our experienced Year 6 teacher, Amie Bishop, moved as part of a leadership secondment at the start of this school year.

Just this month, Two Gates officially joined our family and became one of our academy schools. Our collaborative work continues to raise standards at the school and is ensuring that rapid progress is made towards achieving the school’s development priorities. Two Gates is now one of four Staffordshire schools to join our academy trust, which also connects academies not only in Birmingham but also in North Warwickshire. This sees our ATLP’s multi-academy trust home to eight primary schools, four secondary schools and one national teaching school and this collaboration enables us to share best practice and learn from schools in different contexts.

The Headteacher at Two Gates, Nêst Llewelyn-Cook said: “Two Gates is delighted to join the ATLP. We’re part of a close family of schools that share our ethos and values, including an absolute commitment to giving children the very best life chances. Working collectively in a supportive environment enables us to achieve more than we could alone and we have already benefitted from working in partnership. This is the start of a new chapter for Two Gates and we are excited about moving forward and passing on those rewards to our wider learning community.”

ATLP Chief Executive Officer and newly appointed chair of the Teaching Schools Council, Richard Gill, said: “It’s a privilege to welcome Two Gates to the partnership. Nêst and her team believe wholeheartedly in extending opportunities to children and we are proud to take this school improvement journey together. Through mutual support and collaboration, we can unlock that potential and make an even greater difference – not just at Two Gates, but across all our academies.”

Following a visit to Two Gates Primary just last week I am delighted to report that Mrs Bishop is enjoying

her time there, teaching in Year 6 and leading the Phase 3 team. She is tasked with improving outcomes for pupils this summer so that every child achieves their true potential and demonstrates that they have made rapid and sustained progress over time. She is leading Maths across the school and is embedding new curriculum practices working very closely with Nêst, the Headteacher, and the other senior leads.

Inclusion: Dr Anita Soni’s Emotion Coaching Workshop Mr Stuart Lackenby—Deputy Head Teacher/Inclusion Lead Christmas is such a magical time of year—decorations are hung, carols are sang, presents are given and parties are had in classrooms up and down the country. It truly is a pleasure to be part of the festivities in school and it always brings a smile to my face when I see the enjoyment our children have at this time of year. But, amidst all the festive workshops, tree decorating and Christmas lunches, it is important for us to remember that, for some children, the Christmas period can present challenges that they may not face in their day-to day routines. There are a number of possible reasons for this, most often due to changes in routine as classes become increasingly involved in off-timetable activities, such as Christmas card making or calendars.

Children who find these changes difficult may need direction as the amount of choice can become overwhelming. They might demonstrate behaviours that would suggest they are highly anxious and it is important in these moments to provide structure and support, whilst allowing them to safely express their emotions as a normal part of becoming emotional literate and self-regulated.

Over the course of the past two years, all staff at Hill West have been trained in research-based approaches that are proven to better support the social and emotional needs of children through the building of effective, secure relationships. During this journey, we have been fortunate enough to have the expertise and guidance of our school Educational Psychologist, Dr Anita Soni, who has developed our understanding and implementation of Emotion Coaching into our everyday practice.

This term, we were delighted to be able extend this work out to our families, as part of our ongoing work around inclusion, by hosting an emotion coaching workshop, led by Dr Anita Soni and Mr Lackenby (Inclusion lead).

What is Emotion Coaching?

Emotions…we all have them. Everything we do and everything we learn is shaped in some way by the way we feel. Feelings are a natural part of who we are. But how do children learn about emotions? How do they learn to understand their sadness or joy? What is appropriate behaviour when these feelings are strong? What can a caregiver do when a child explodes in anger or hides in fear? Caregivers spend lots of time teaching children important things, such as reading or tying shoes. But how much time do we truly spend on helping children learn to understand their feelings?

Emotion Coaching, a term first coined by Dr John Gottman, is based on the principle that nurturing and emotionally supportive relationships provide optimal contexts for the promotion of children's outcomes and resilience (Gottman, 1997); a sentiment that we feel passionate about at Hill West. It is a simple approach that aims to develop “Emotional Intelligence” in young people by using ‘in the moment’ supportive interventions. Whilst many approaches to behaviour often aim to correct the behaviour itself, emotion coaching views the behaviour as a form of communication, making an important distinction between children’s behaviour and the feelings that underlie their actions. Emotion coaching, in essence, is about helping children to understand their varying emotions as they experience them, why they occur, and how to handle them better in future scenarios. Not only does emotion coaching support the development of emotional intelligence, research shows that children who understand their feelings and learn about their emotions:  Form stronger friendships with other children and develop secure relationships later in life  Regulate their emotions more effectively and are able to self-soothe more quickly when they get upset  Perform better academically  Are less likely to have regular negative emotions and develop more secure mental health  Are sick less often

Inclusion: Dr Anita Soni’s Emotion Coaching Workshop Mr Stuart Lackenby The Five Steps of Emotion Coaching

STEP 1 :Tune in to your child’s feelings and your own.  Pay attention to your own emotions, from happiness to sadness to anger.  Understand that emotions are a natural and valuable part of life.  Observe, listen, and learn how your child expresses different emotions.  Watch for changes in facial expressions, body language, posture, and tone of voice.

STEP 5: Find good solutions by exploring problems together

STEP 2 : Using emotional moments as opportunities to connect.

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 Pay close attention to a child’s emotions.

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Redirect misbehaving children for what they do, not what they feel.

When children misbehave, help them to identify their feelings and explain why their behaviour was inappropriate.

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Encourage emotional expression, but set clear limits on behaviour.

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Help children think through possible solutions.

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Don’t expect too much too soon.

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 Try not to dismiss or avoid them.  See emotional moments as opportunities for teaching.  Recognize feelings and encourage your child to talk about his or her emotions.

Be aware of tempting settings and be prepared to help your child through them.

 Provide guidance before emotions escalate into misbehaviour.

Create situations where your child can explore without hearing lots of "don'ts."

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Catch your child doing lots of things right -praise them

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Do chores, like picking up toys, together.

STEP 3: Listen to your child  STEP 4: Help your child identify and name emotions.

Respect your child’s feelings by taking time to listen carefully.

 Take your child’s emotions seriously.  Identify the emotions your child is experiencing instead of telling your

 Show your child that you understand what he or she is feeling.

child how he or she should feel.

 Avoid judging or criticizing your child’s emotions.

 Naming emotions helps soothe a child.  Set a good example by naming your own emotions and talking about them.

 Help your child build a vocabulary for different feelings.

Please visit The Gottman Institute’s website for further details https://emotioncoaching.gottman.com/

Inclusion: Dr Anita Soni’s Emotion Coaching Workshop Mr Stuart Lackenby Emotion Coaching Workshop Feedback Absolutely loved this! It has given me so much to think about and action. Fabulous to know the school is doing this too.

What a worthwhile training session. So useful and applicable & delivered in a safe and honest way.

I found this session very useful. It has made me think differently about responding to my children’s displays of emotion. I look forward to putting this into

Thank you so much.

More! More! MORE!

Anita—Thank you!. I know this theory is being utilised effectively at Hill West as evidenced by teachers who recently supported my daughters. Thank you, as ever!

Mr Lackenby—more please!!

Thank you! Excellent! So thought provoking! Being a parent is hard at times and it is great to come together and not feel isolated all the time.

I found this session very useful and it has certainly given me a lot to think about as well as strategies to use. Any further sessions would be very appreciated.

Very informative and relevant. I look forward to future workshops!

Very useful. I think this is definitely something we could do with more of. Thank you, Hill West

Collaboration at its best. Home and school working together.

Excellent session! I would be interested in attending regular workshops. Could they be run termly?

We are delighted to announce that Dr Anita Soni will be running further family workshops in the Spring term so please do look out for these on our weekly bulletin. Should you require any further information, or have any questions about emotion coaching, please speak to Mr Lackenby. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christingle Church Services Miss Emily Bolton

Our Christingle services held at All Saints Parish Church were most certainly a highlight of our Christmas season here at Hill West. This year, our service for Barnardo and Ghandi was on Wednesday 5th December and for Mandela and Pankhurst, Thursday 6th December. Our Christingles were well travelled this year as teachers and children walked from Hill West to the Church and the children all took part in a wonderful parade around the Church.

Both the services were fantastic this year, led

by Dr Clarke. Lots of our year 6 pupils took centre stage and spoke to us about how Christingle first came about and what it represents. We also enjoyed singing our traditional Christingle hymns and listening to our woodwind, violin and guitar players getting us into the Christmas spirit!

We would like to say a special thank you to Reverend John Flitcroft and Adrian Leahy for making us so welcome, to Dr Clarke, for leading our service, to our fantastic readers who read with such confidence (Ellie, Bella, Cara, Millie, Rohan, Deagan, Nieve, Michael, Stavros, Jacob, Sebastiano and Louisa) and our wonderful musicians who all worked extremely hard to learn their different songs (Naomi, Jess, Hannah, Tilly, Tamsin, Thea, Florence, Monica, Molly, Aleena, Angelina, Amber, Anna, Ivy, Morgan, Lucas, Harrison, Ellis, Daniel and Beatrix).

We all went away feeling really Christmassy, and it was great to have so many parents with us too!

Rotary Award: Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Shoe Box Appeal Mrs Kerry-Lynn Lampitt

“Deciding to help children across the world, who aren't as lucky as we are, at Christmas is a wonderful feeling”.

Since its inception in the early 1990s, Operation Christmas Child, which was founded by a couple from north Wales in response to the street-children crisis in Romania, has grown rapidly and impacted positively on the lives of millions of children worldwide, with almost 10,000 schools in Britain now collecting gifts. In 2017, over a million boxes were kindly donated to children around the world who are living in very challenging circumstances and environments. This gift, something as simple as a shoe box, brings joy (and often necessary sanitary/hygiene products and clothing) to countless children who are in need this Christmas.

Shoebox appeals have become part of the modern Christmas in many schools and it is no surprise considering how many lives it touches around the world each year. This year, our fantastic Year 6 Rotary Award children agreed that this act of charity—the ability to give to those less fortunate than we are—was something that we must do as a school. And so, they began working on promoting the event across school .

Following a whole-school assembly, linking to our work with the UNICEF Rights Respecting School Award, the Rotary children sprang into action, creating posters and printing leaflets to distribute to the wider school community. Shortly after, school was inundated with generous donations of toys, food items and sanitary products; small items that we often take for granted but which mean the world to children living in poverty or war-torn countries at this special time of year. We were absolutely humbled by the kindness and generosity shown by our school community and soon we had enough toys to fill Santa’s workshop.

Over the next few days, our Rotary Award children spent countless hours (many of which were in their own time) making up and wrapping shoe boxes until a mountain of presents filled the KS2 entrance. It truly was a magical sight —to see the kindness of our community was wondrous.

Finally, it was off to Sainsbury’s to drop off the shoe boxes—a staggering 100 in all!

We truly do have such a wonderful school community and would like to thank all those who kindly donated.

Your gift really will make the world of difference to a child in need at Christmas. Here is to next year!

Lacey Severn. “ I hope the children really love all their presents as much as we enjoyed wrapping and packing them”.

Sporting News; Linsie Donegan - P.E. Lead At Hill West Primary we understand the value of school sport and physical education. Sport in schools can help to create a much needed active generation among the nation’s youth. The Sports & Physical Education (PE) Association UK discuss why investment in sport is crucial to pupils’ health and well-being. The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) measures the height and weight of nearly one million school children in England each year, and their reports indicate that just over 19% of children aged 10-11 are obese, with a further 14% classed as overweight. According to The Royal Society for Public Health’s whitepaper published recently “Childhood obesity has proliferated in recent decades, in part, due to children living increasingly sedentary lifestyles where physical activity has declined and activities such as watching TV, playing video games and time spent on smart phones has

increased. In 1995, the average child spent three hours a day in front of a screen, compared to more than six hours today.”

The impact of school sport and physical activity has been shown to make a real difference to children’s healthy lifestyles. In recent years, schools have benefitted from government funding in the form of the Primary PE & Sport Premium. The aim of this funding is to ensure that by the time they leave primary school, all pupils will be physically literate, with the knowledge, skills and motivation necessary to equip themselves for a healthy lifestyle and lifelong participation in physical activity and sport. Using the PE and Sports Premium, Hill West has been able to invest in: hiring qualified sports coaches to work with teachers; providing existing staff with training or resources to help them teach PE and sport more effectively; introducing new sports or activities and encouraging more pupils to take up sport; supporting and involving the least active children by running or extending school

sports clubs after school and taking part in sport competitions and activities with other schools. At the start of the autumn term, thanks to our dedicated PTFA and the hard work of Mr Carroll we were able to install a new mini golf course on our school field. To date, all year groups have benefitted for its use and some children have taken up a personal interest in golf as a result out of school. Golf challenges the player toward constant self-improvement. Players develop habits of self-improvement by self-analysis skills, seeking professional instruction, and accepting critiques from others. Golf has a rich tradition of etiquette which lives on today. Playing golf teaches our pupils how to behave towards self and others, and imparts values such as truthfulness and strength during adversity. Golf is an active game and is less injury prone than contact sports. Conditioning for golf improves strength of core muscles that support the spine, improves flexibility, and allows participants the opportunity to be active and fit.

Year 1, 2, 4 and 6 have benefitted this term from working alongside Vesyans Rugby Club with weekly lessons of tag rugby in school. The expert coaches have worked with our children not only to develop a love of the sport but also refine skills. Tag Rugby is an all-inclusive game, it does not discriminate against age, size or experience and it means that girls and boys are able to play the sport together. Tag Rugby is fast moving, high scoring and engages players. This is particularly important for beginners as it encourages fun and a sense of achievement at all levels.

Possession of the ball and scoring is much higher in Tag Rugby than contact rugby which means new players benefit from more possession, more passes and more scoring. Tag Rugby is a fantastic way for kids to keep fit in a fun and energetic way. The level of activity in a game promotes bone and muscle strength as well as great body coordination, and it encourages children to be physically fit whilst enjoying themselves too. Tag Rugby is a team game and players must all pull together in order to win. Players learn how to trust one another and rely on one another - a trait that can be built upon and used in everyday life.

Sporting News Continued; Linsie Donegan - P.E. Lead

There have been many competitions too this term; multi-skills for Years 3 and 4, cross-country fixtures for children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 and football matches for the Year 6 team—just to name a few.

Our cross country team have made a fantastic start to the year, finishing all fixtures in the top 3 with three more races to compete in later in the year.

The Year 6 football team have had much success too winning all of their fixtures this term. They are now looking forward to the remaining league and tournament matches later in the year. Our after school clubs this term have seen more children being physically active than ever before. Children have particularly enjoyed fencing and archery. Those who have been participating in our after school gymnastics clubs have successfully obtained their British Gymnastics Proficiency Awards. Autumn 2 saw the return of after school dance club with children from Key Stage One really benefitting from this opportunity. We have provided, this term, additional school swimming lessons during the school day for those children in Years 5 and 6 who were yet unable to swim 25 metres. Of the 11 children attending the weekly lessons, 9 can now swim proficiently over this distance.

Swimming is an excellent form of low-impact cardiovascular exercise for the whole body. Children's bodies are constantly changing as they develop and grow and it is important they gain enough exercise to burn off both excess energy and fat.

Every child at Hill West enjoys two hours of school sport / PE every week where their physical fitness and stamina over a range of disciplines is enhanced.

In order to develop children’s fitness and activity levels at break times and lunchtimes, school has also invested in our new KS1 trim trail and a range of outdoor equipment.

Just this month we have commissioned some very exciting new technology which can be streamed into classes, played on our main entrance TVs and fed through a new interactive screen into our KS2 hall.

This technology is aimed to promote the health, fitness and wellbeing of all our children. Children will be able to participate in fitness boot camps, yo-

ga sessions and body nutrition work outs through short film-clips. Please also look out for the invite to all parents to ‘fit-trition’ classes which will be a mixture of Zumba and high intensity interval training.

We can’t wait for you to join us!

The Diary of a Teacher in the build up to the Nativity Mrs Rachael Evans & Mrs Gurpreet Kaur Christmas is such a magical time of year at Hill West; whether that be carols and candlelight at our Christingle services or quality time spent with families and loved ones at our festive lunches. But nothing quite marks the occasion of Christmas like our annual Nativity performance: a staple in the Hill West Christmas calendar. The Nativity, probably one of the most recognisable symbols of the Christmas season comes from the Latin word ‘nativus’, which means "arisen by birth." Nativities in the form of art, models, carvings, or live demonstrations depicting the night of Jesus' birth have been around since 1223 when Saint Francis of Assisi assembled the first Nativity scene in an effort to promote the true meaning of Christmas and worship of Jesus Christ. His idea caught on, and soon a new Christmas tradition was born. Today, it's almost impossible for one to go through the Christmas season without seeing a nativity scene in front of a church, on the front of a Christmas card or at a school performance. It is always such a pleasure to watch our children perform the Nativity as they truly do bring the spirit of Christmas alive in school, performing beautifully to families and children. Although it seems to go smoothly on the day, the Nativity is something that takes weeks of preparation, song practices and hard work by Mary and Joseph, shepherds and sheep , three kings, angels and even the odd donkey or two. Oh, and did we mention— teachers, too; here is our diary extract to prove it!

Tuesday 6th November The Year 2 children returned to school feeling revived after their short break, but most of all they were full of anticipation as today was ‘The Big Day.’ They were soon to find out what role they would be playing in the Nativity! As names were read out, there were tears, laughter and screams of happiness. How could so many emotions be exhibited in so little time? Panic set in and I quickly worked to remove any doubts or worries from those children displaying them. Phew!

Wednesday 7th November We began to listen to some of the songs in the classroom. I smiled a caring smile and thought to myself, how impossible a task it was going to be to learn all of the lyrics to every single song in such a short amount of time!

Monday 12th November The children have had their scripts over the weekend and today we began our rehearsals. They were so excited to stand tall on the stage but will their courage remain with them on their big day? Whilst the children were doing brilliantly with their positioning on stage, I struggled to make sense of the instructions and stage directions. This is going to require a lot more time!

Friday 16th November We are doing really well learning the words to all of the songs in the Nativity. The trouble is, we are now waking up singing the songs and going to bed singing them! The children can remember the words better than me, so when I do sing them, I am the one singing the wrong words. Sometimes they notice and sometimes they don’t. I must confess my favourite song is ‘What a Commotion,’ because the canon sounds amazing.

Thursday 6th December Rehearsals are going well although there have been many challenges, such as changes to acting positions, illnesses and Christmas activities. And we are less than 2 weeks away.! Arghhh! It should be possible to fit in six more rehearsals: give or take a few. The children are better at remembering the directions than me! If I can’t recall where someone should be because I have scribbled something illegible on my script, one of the child can always remember what we agreed last time. Thank goodness for their attention to detail. They truly are stars!

Monday 10th December We had our first dress rehearsal today and I must say, I was so proud of all of our children. They knew their lines, they sang beautifully and they helped each other out in those tricky moments. I sat back with a huge festive grin on my face— it made me realise how hard they had been working and how far they had come since giving out the scripts at the beginning of term. They were also far more reliable than the computer (which seemed to be picking and choosing when it wanted to work! Bah Humbug!)

Wednesday 12th December Well, the big day will soon be upon us and there feels like there is so much more to try and do. The songs need polishing, there needs to be a little less prompting and we need to source a few misplaced props—maybe the elves on the shelves have been hiding them? Whilst panic has set in amongst the teachers, the children remain excited and can’t wait to preform to their families and loved ones. A few more sleeps until the big day; dare I say, I’m a little excited?

Thursday 13th December The innkeepers and kings have perfected their dance routine, the songs have been fine tuned and everyone knows their parts off by heart. It truly is a Christmas miracle. What could possibly go wrong?

Friday 14th December This is our last dress rehearsal before the ‘real thing.’ Deep breathes! The children have performed like they are in ‘Glee!’

What superstars!

Monday 17th December Well, what can I say! Today went without a hitch. The children have made us all exceptionally proud. They have worked extremely hard to learn the songs and their parts and it all paid off in the end. A beautiful telling of a very important story. I wonder if any will become actors in the future? I am sure some of them are talented and passionate enough! There were many funny parts in this Nativity story, but I think we all felt the real meaning of Christmas shine through. Their performance certainly did remind us of the importance of forgiveness, charity and love at Christmas. With the success of the Nativity behind them, the children can now focus on getting excited for Christmas day as well as a well -deserved rest! Let me take this opportunity to thank all the parents for supporting this year’s Nativity; whether that be coming to watch the performance, providing costumes for your children or practising lines before bedtime— A very merry Christmas from the Year 2 team.

Year 5 Residential to Aberdovey Dr Rhian Warrack A crowd of extremely excited Year 5 children climbed on board the waiting coach in front of Hill West Primary School, just after 9a.m. on Monday 26th November. As seatbelts were buckled and checked, the children waved goodbye to their loved ones and we set off on our journey to Aberdovey, located on the Welsh west coast, north of Aberystwyth. On-board were 51 extremely excited children from Hares and Badgers and 4 adults: Dr Warrack, Miss Robinson, Miss Donegan and Mr Minto. As school faded into the distance behind us, our attention turned towards the adventures which might await us…

Would we go jetty-jumping, rock-climbing, canoeing, walking or swimming? No-one was sure, but the excited chatter of children filled the coach as we headed onwards to our destination.

Three hours after leaving school, we were travelling through the Welsh hills.

Eventually the road began to wind alongside the river. As we turned around a bend, we were able to glimpse the widening mouth of the river as it approached Cardigan Bay and joined the sea, which meant we were nearing our destination.

After around four hours, the coach turned right off the main road and drove up a steep, curved drive to the Aberdovey Outward Bound Trust Centre. The coach driver showed great skill as he parked the coach in the small car park and we worked together to unload the coach. As we looked behind us, the view from the dining hall overlooking Aberdovey was simply spectacular.

First port of call was the hall so that we could all eat lunch. Once they had eaten, the children were introduced to their groups (Shackleton, Simpson, Muir, Hilary and Fiennes) before their team leaders took them off to show them their common rooms and give them a tour of the centre. They then went to their accommodation blocks— Tan Y Bryn and Bryn Y Mor— and were shown their rooms—which were for 6 or 7 children to share. Once there, they were given the chance to choose their own beds, and then shown how to make them—using the sheets and bedding provided.

After settling in, the children met up again in their teams. Over the next five days the children would get to know the people in their teams exceptionally well and they were eager to start their first challenge or activity. Roz was head of Team Muir, Rich of Team Simpson, Steph of Team Hilary, Paul and Gemma of Fiennes, Nathan for Team Shackleton. After settling into their rooms, the children embarked on a range of introductory activities, including team building games and orienteering activities to help them find their way around camp. They also discussed what the children would like to achieve over the week and how they could work together to achieve their goals.

By five o’clock, everyone was ready for some food, so we paid our first visit to the canteen area. Frankly, the food was fantastic and there were even second helpings.

After some time to unpack and get some warm clothes the children took part in evening activities, which included setting team rules, exploring the centre in the dark, climbing a gorge in the dark or playing team games. Everyone met up at 8:00 in the Activity Hall to enjoy a welldeserved cup of hot chocolate and a snack and some social time as a whole group, before making their way to their rooms to get ready for bed.

By 10:30 all was quiet and everyone was fast asleep after an exhilarating first day in Aberdovey.

Year 5 Residential to Aberdovey continued Dr Rhian Warrack The activities on the first day included a visit to the waterfall and Dolgoch caves for Team Simpson, Pantperthog and Hafotty Cabin to build dens for Muir, Fiennes bought the longest train ticket ever to go to Barmouth to climb a mountain, Shackleton team travelled down a gorge, before taking part in team games back at the centre in the afternoon, whilst Hilary spent the morning working on communication and teamwork, before going on a gorge walk in the afternoon: and this was all before dinner!

After a delicious tea, the children had some spare time before meeting up with their teams to take part in more activities before hot chocolate and bed. Some groups were preparing kit for the next day’s adventure, some groups took part in team activities, team building and reviewing the days events – thinking about what went well, and what they could do individually and as a team to improve their team-work, whilst Fiennes went on a gorge walk in the dark up the river, using head torches. The children emerged from the gorge a little wet and muddy, to see the stars above. Muir were star-gazing, whilst some children went to the beach for a fire and roasted marshmallows!

As morning broke on day three, the children could be found enjoying another delicious breakfast, enthusiastically chattering about the adventures of the day ahead. A day of bushcraft and walking in the woods lay ahead for Simpson— followed by canoe diving into the sea, a visit to Dolgoch to visit the caves and fire-building for Shackleton, Hilary went to Hafotty Cabin to build dens and fires in Pantperthog, Fiennes went gorge walking (and sliding down a natural river slide) - before having a dip in the sea, whilst Muir went canoeing on the River Dysinny, on another perfect day in Aberdovey. At the end of the evening , 52 extremely happy, content and tired children made their way back to their beds to get some well-earned sleep for the next day’s adventures.

On the final day, Team Hilary climbed on-board a train to go on a mountain hike, Shackleton went mountaineering to Mynydd Y Llyn, Simpsons went to Creggenen Ridge, Hilary went hiking in the morning before learning how to build fires, whilst Fiennes went exploring in the woods. The children were determined to take every miniscule drop of excitement, adventure and learning from the day’s activities, as they had realised - with great sadness - that this would be their last full day in Aberdovey! What a blast they all had!!!

After enjoying a final delicious dinner, the children gathered together to celebrate everything they had achieved during their time at Aberdovey, sharing their successes and lessons they had learnt about themselves, their friends and about working as part of a team. What a simply amazing last evening at Aberdovey!

Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas & a Happy & Prosperous New Year From all the children and staff at Hill West Primary School, Four Oaks