Bridge Integrated Primary School

P.6T Shannagh-More 2017 Scroll down for day 2

Day 1

We all arrived safe and sound in Shannagh-More today (Wednesday 25th October). Our day started off with a lovely lunch, before getting all our outdoor gear, meeting the leaders, organising ourselves into bedrooms and heading out on our first activities.

Mrs Devlin's group climbed the low ropes course to develop confidence and basic climbing skills and then children pushed themselves out of their comfort zone to complete a high ropes course. They showed off their climbing talents, amazing determination and courage even though some were a little nervous and their legs may have felt like jelly!

Mrs Turley’s and Mrs McKiverigan's groups went on an adventure walk to Tollymore Forest Park. They had lots of challenges to complete along the way including, crawling through tunnels, under bridges and squelching through lots of MUD! The children pushed themselves out of comfort zones to try things they had never done before, supporting and encouraging each other along the way. Very muddy and happy children were glad of a nice warm shower back at the centre before their dinner!

This evening we went on a beach walk in Murlough Bay, which was lovely. This was followed by a trip to a shop for some treats and then supper back at the centre. All the children are now tucked up in bed and it sounds like they are all asleep!

Adventure Walk - Mrs Turley's Group

Adventure Walk - Mrs McKiverigan's Group

Climbing - Mrs Devlin's Group

Day 2

Whilst a few may have found it a bit hard to initially fall over to sleep, everyone got up refreshed and ready of the day's adventures. After cereal and toast we all got organised for our morning activities.

This morning Mrs Turley's group embraced the opportunity to go climbing with leader Jimmy. This he tested out their skills on the low ropes course, supporting and encouraging each other as they went along. There were a variety of challenges along the way from walking along beams to going through tyres and hugging trees to get around obstacles. Amazing teamwork! Some even walked across the swamp with their eyes closed relying on their other senses to ensure they didn't fall in. Many children went on to try the climbing wall and then the high ropes course which was indeed a challenge that made some legs wobble! Many were very proud to overcome their fears to make it around the whole course! My group named themselves 'Team Lightning Sharks'. What a fantastic group!

Mrs Devlin's Group Canoeing

This morning Mrs Devlin's group went canoeing in Newcastle harbour with Leader Michael. They attached two Canadian canoes together and explored the sea front. They learned how to worked as a team to row in rhythm together and also had the opportunity to get off their cares and scramble over large boulders along the coast.

Orienteering and Archery

This morning Mrs McKiverigan's group learned how to read symbols on a map, before making their own plans of the centre. Next pupils went off to solve clues individually and in small groups, using their maps. Soon after this group tried archery. They had to learn how to hold the bow and arrow properly and had great fun playing games together. This group called themselves the 'A' team and they definitely deserve the name for excellent team work and enthusiasm!

Canoeing

This afternoon Mrs McKiverigan’s and Mrs Turley's group went canoeing on Castlewellan Lake. The children enjoyed learning how to paddle and even had fun standing whilst paddling. The leaders Val and Jimmy set them some challenges like standing on one foot and going over an invisible waterfall! They paddled around an island before jumping in the water to get nice and wet!

Mrs Devlin's Group - Adventure Walk

This afternoon Mrs Turley took Mrs Devlin's 'Warriors' on their adventure walk to Tollymore Forest park. What a brave bunch of kids! Everyone gave it their all, embraced all the muddy challenges and watery tunnels, whilst having lots of fun together. It was great to see how enthusiastic everyone was! Lots of mud, water and smiling happy faces! That's what it is all about!

Go 'Warriors'!

This evening after another delicious dinner the children enjoyed a bit of free time playing together before we all played a 'class' game! It was lots of fun! After supper everyone decided to chill out with a movie or simply chat with friends in their rooms. We can't believe that it our last day tomorrow already! As the saying goes 'time flies when you are having fun!'

We have had a fantastic time together so far and look forward to our final activities tomorrow - two groups are orienteering and doing archery whilst one group is climbing! We just have to organise our suitcases, sort our rooms a bit before bedtime! Here's hoping everyone brings all their stuff home! We don't imagine that it will hard for everyone to fall asleep tonight as we are all very tired from all the activities!

We look forward to seeing our families tomorrow with tales of all our adventures!

(Just so you know parents - these children have been able to organise themselves (mostly), clear and set the dinner tables, help make their beds and keep their rooms reasonably tidy! So there's no excuse if they can do these things here they can do it at home too!

Day 3

Everyone was up early this morning, bags packed and organised so that we could leave our rooms ready for the cleaners before breakfast. We were all a bit tired this morning but had a great night night's sleep, ready to embrace our final activity of the trip. The A-team couldn't wait to try climbing on both the low and high ropes course, whilst the Warriors and Lightning Sharks tried orienteering and archery. Even the teachers had a go at archery though none of us hit a bull's eye!

What an amazing time we have had throughout this trip. The children have been absolutely fantastic and been a pleasure to look after. P.6T have risen to many challenges with great enthusiasm from struggling into wetsuits (not easy!), climbing high ropes, crawling through through wet muddy puddles, organising all our own belongings (some were more successful than others ;-) and having the best time supporting our friends. Special times, precious memories, stories to tell…what an awesome trip!

A huge thank-you to our leaders Val, Jimmy and Michael and all the Centre staff for making us very welcome, keeping us safe and feeding us delicious meals.

A - Team Climbing