Year 5’s trip to Swanage began on Wednesday, 5 June at 8:30 am. The bus journey was fun, silly and entertaining especially since the back row were doing a sing along.

We were lucky to have a tour around Corfe Castle and learn about its amazing history, we even met the original Colin from the food brand, ‘Colin the Caterpillar’!

Once we arrived at camp, we sat on the football field and got told our cabins. In that afternoon all we did was play in the adventure park or play a football game. Later that afternoon we went to have fajitas for dinner at camp and then went down into town for ice cream and a play at the beach. Some boys made massive reservoirs, while others played football (again)! It was cool staying up late with all our friends, but it only got better when we had a toothbrush disco!

We woke up the next day ready and excited for a water-based adventure down by the beach. We all went to breakfast, where we were met by the sweet smell of pancakes and syrup. That’s when we split into groups to get on the bus. Group 1 did Beach Safety down at the beach. We learnt how to run with chicken legs to get in the sea faster and how to porpoise dive in and out the water. Next up, we did ‘The Big Fat Lifeguard Race.’ Unfortunately, the orange team won. After that we sat down and had lunch before getting on another bus to go paddleboarding and kayaking. As soon as we got there, we put on coloured sun cream and put on wetsuits to get ready for the first activity. Paddleboarding was first and we had to complete fun challenges like ‘do a 360 jump whilst standing up on your paddleboard’. Then we did kayaking, the challenges this time included ‘trying to find a rubber duck’ and ‘jump on someone else’s boat’. After this we headed to the bus and went back to camp, to relax and have dinner. After we had eaten our delicious fish and chips, we went back to town to play and get MORE ice cream. After an hour at the beach, we came back to camp to light a beacon for D-Day. We had another toothbrush disco later that night before earning some well-earned sleep.

The final morning was great, as we went to go play football at 6:45 am! We all had breakfast and started to walk towards a fascinating fossil ceremony at the top of a massive hill. We passed around ammonites and fish bones from thousands of years ago. Lunch was a picnic packed lunch on the grass, then we walked back to camp and got on our buses, to make our way home.

I also want to say a massive thank you to all the teachers who went on the residential.