First Year fun on residential trip
Pupils new to SGS Senior School enjoyed an action-packed few days on their residential.
Upon arriving in the stunning surroundings of Chatsworth House, pupils took part in some games before grabbing a place waterside and in the gardens for lunch.
The children then headed to the farmyard, where they fed the sheep and goats, and the adventure playground.
Following this, the pupils moved on to their hostel in Ilam where they unpacked, made their beds and came together for dinner.
The evening concluded with more games and a meeting to look back at what they had achieved during the day.
After a hearty breakfast, the First Years headed out geocaching. Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity in which participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches”, at specific locations marked by coordinates.
A well-earned dinner was followed by a fun interactive quiz before pupils went to bed for a richly deserved rest.
With breakfast consumed and belongings packed up on the final day of the trip, the pupils departed for the Heights of Abraham, a hilltop park reached by cable car, with cavern tours, walking trails and fossil exhibitions.
The girls and boys took in the wonderful sights at the top of the park as they ate their lunch before boarding the coach back to school.
Pupil Alexis Atenyam said: “I really enjoyed the residential to Ilam, it was a lot of fun and I now know more people in my year and made new friends. We did lots of activities and made time for ice creams! I especially enjoyed the evening quiz and the trip to the Heights of Abraham cable cars, which was scary but amazing.”
Thomas Huxley said: “The trip was fun and I really enjoyed the adventure playground as I got to run around and play with my friends. I knew some of the other First Years from my time in the Junior School but it was easy, and a great opportunity, to make new friends too.”
Esme Birkett added: “Staying in a room with my friends and going on the cable car and exploring the cave at the Heights of Abraham were my favourite parts. We did group activities and this meant that we met new people and had to work together. I would definitely recommend to all new First Years to go on the residential as it is lots of fun.”
Head of First Year Mr Alex Ehegartner concluded: “Ilam was a huge success and it was simply wonderful to see kids being kids! It was an absolute pleasure to work with this group and I had a wonderful time. This time away was needed and deserved and I couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of them!”
