A Year in Yester

Primary 5 have spent the last couple of days on North Berwick Law, with Outdoor Education Instructor Bill Stephen having great fun scrambling. Yesterday, half of the class were accompanied by Mrs Edwards, who I am reliably informed, also took part in all the scrambling activities, while today, the other half of the class went, with me assisting Bill.

Everyone had great fun, and although I had forgotten the school camera- silly Mr Purves- I remembered I had my phone camera to call upon, so we managed to record some of the rock climbing as well as get a couple of decent photos at the top of the Law. In some ways, the day was like a taster for things that are done at Benmore, and like the P7s, the P5 class all seemed very pleased with their day’s work as they came back to school this afternoon. So, a big thank you to Mr Stephen!

After a very busy, but extremely enjoyable week away, we’re all back to school again. It’s time to reflect on how things went, both for the class, and the teachers!

For me personally, it was undoubtedly the most enjoyable week I have spent at Benmore, both as a teacher and as a child, which is of course many years ago now. The main reasons for this were the fact that this year’s class showed they were an excellent bunch of children who gelled well, worked well together, mixed well with children from other schools who were at the Centre at the same time, and most importantly, had great fun! Perhaps the most pleasing aspect for me, and for Miss Stuart too, was the fact that it was very obvious as the week went on that some of the class who we might have had slight worries about whether they would participate in all the activities, or enjoy them, clearly did. The rise in confidence of some children was very pleasing. I was really happy to see all the class attempting all the activities, even if they weren’t sure if they would enjoy them. An example was the climbing and abseiling, which some were very unsure about beforehand. Once they had done it though, most were raving about it!

The weather was mixed- but that didn’t stop the whole class jumping into lochs and rivers, even when it was quite cool and wet outside. It amazed me how many children wanted to jump into Loch Eck even on Thursday, after coming out of the caves!

The vast majority of the children thought the food was excellent. One child even made comment that the meals were better than anything he had experienced at home!

The disco on Thursday evening gave the groups from all the schools the chance to let their hair down and mix with each other, which they did very well. On Friday morning it was nice to see many exchanging phone numbers with newly made friends from the other schools.

As I said earlier in the week, it was great to be able to convey what was happening each day to the parents and others at the school via the blog. That was definitely a great thing to do, even if it meant quite a bit more work! The overwhelmingly positive comments proved that it was appreciated- so thanks again to all who took the time to read our blog and comment on it.
Mr Purves

At breakfast…

Deep in the forest…

Now, what’s this all about? Answers on a postcard please, to Mrs Hilsley…

Tour de France tops, ready for cycling…

Time for a hose-down, at the end of the day, and the week!

Flora:- This week has been the experience of a lifetime- I have really enjoyed it!

Sian:- Gorge walking was fantastic. I’ve had a great time.

Erin:- Mountain biking was really good fun and it has been a very memorable week for me.

Olivia:- This week has been a week that I’ll remember for ever- it has been brilliant.

Robin:- Biking was great fun and once again I got soaked! I’ll remember this week for ever.

Carla:- I really enjoyed the gorge walk, it was really slippy and great fun. The caving was scary. The week has gone so fast, I have enjoyed every minute of it, and I have to say that kayaking was my favourite.

Joy:- It has been one of the best weeks of my life- I’d love to be able to do it again if I had the chance.

Eilidh:- We learned how to do bunny hops on the bikes today. The week has been really good fun.

Corrie:- This week has been really great- I have learned lots of new things and I would love to come back if I had the chance.

Jordanne:- I really like Benmore and if I could bring my family here, I’d love to live here.

Rosie:- The week has been great and I wish I could stay here. My favourite thing was the gorge walking.

Ailish:- It was fun making face paints in the forest. The week has been really good and I enjoyed the ropes course best.

Lucy:- Today was really fun, especially the gorge as we got soaking wet. The caves were tight to squeeze through. After that we went swimming in the loch.

Jack T.:- I’ve really enjoyed the whole week and I’m looking forward to the party tonight till 3am!!

Connor:- I enjoyed climbing up the ropes onto the board at the top, yesterday. If anyone had slipped, we’d all have fallen off!

Jack D:- Today we went to the forest and it was really fun as we had to go through tunnels and under logs. All the activities have been really fun.

David:- I enjoyed the caving today the best of all. I liked going down under ground.

Callum:- I enjoyed the caving. The best thing of the whole week was being in the caves.

Sam:- We went gorge walking and caving today. The best bit was when we had to crawl through the key hole at the top of the gorge. This was my favourite activity of the week.

Thomas:- My favourite thing from the week was probably the gorge walking. It was just really fun. Overall, Benmore has been brilliant, and much better than a week of school!

Miss Stuart:- I have loved every minute of the Benmore experience with my class. All the staff here have commented on what lovely children you are and you should be really proud of yourselves. I’m sure your parents will be too. You’ve all been so enthusiastic and energetic. It’s been a great end to the year and I will miss you all very much when you move on to secondary school. Thanks for the super memories P7!! Xx

So, that’s just about it! The week has flown past for all of us. The children have been a credit to the school, so well done to all of them. Writing the blog up each evening has been a new experience both for Benmore, and for us, but the comments that have been appearing daily have made it all worth while, so thanks to all who have supported us. I know that each and every comment has been received with pleasure and pride. Tonight, there’s just the big disco left- so I would imagine that when we get back tomorrow, there could be a few bleary eyes… I may (depending on the disco) be able to get some photos online later this evening.

Mr Purves’ Mountain Bikers…

A welcome drink, half-way through the biking!

Instructor Neal, and the balancing game…the cups are full of water!

Oh yes, you’re doing a great job! Who’s going to be the first to let it drop?

Getting to grips with the ropes course…

“Are you sure this is the right way I’m supposed to do it?”

High up, on the ropes.

Thank goodness, I’m down!

Looking up, at the ropes course!

Coming back down to the ground…

The ropes group!

Here are comments from the children about their day. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get round everyone this evening, but rest assured, the whole group had another very enjoyable day’s activities!

Lucy: Today was the best day so far, because we went on a really cool bike ride. Then, even better was the rock climbing which was so cool!

Carla: I really enjoyed the mountain biking, even though we got drenched in mud!

Thomas: The gorge was slippy this morning, but it was still fun.

Sian: Today was great- I loved the climbing wall.

Flora: Today was brill; we did gorge walking and a ropes course.

Rosie: The mountain biking was great.

Robin: It was fantastic at the ropes course.

Erin:- On the ropes it was one of the scariest but most amazing experiences I have ever had!

Sam:- Today we went climbing and abseiling, which was totally amazing.

Callum:- Before I did the abseiling, I didn’t think I would like it. I did! It was very scary though!

Jack T:- Gorge walking was great fun today- I crawled under a huge boulder and I got absolutely soaked!

Jack D:- Gorge walking was great fun. In the afternoon, the ropes course was amazing.

It’s been a very busy day for both groups! This morning, there didn’t seem to be quite the same amount of noise first thing- I am detecting signs of definite tiredness! Yesterday morning, all the boys were awake and keen to get up at 6.25am, but this morning, all were fast asleep until nearly 7.30am! It was the same over in the girls’ dorms, with most a little more sluggish than yesterday.

We had a good breakfast of cereal, sausages and beans, with toast and fruit juice before getting ready for today’s activities. Miss Stuart’s group headed off to the gorge while Mr Purves’ group got kitted out with mountain bikes for their morning. The weather wasn’t so good today- typically west coast in fact- with low clouds and mist, and intermittent drizzle. However, it didn’t make any difference to the children, who were keenly looking forward to their activities.

The gorge-walking group took the bus for 10 minutes till they reached the gorge. There, they started climbing up the river, trying not to get wet. This involved trying to stay on the sides of the river, looking for footing. First to get soaked was Jack D, but everyone else soon got wet too, apart from Olivia who found a great walking stick to help her! If you fell off one of the logs, you had to swim under it, or fill your helmet full of water, and put it back on your head. Near the top, there was a part called the “key hole” which you had to climb through. An additional challenge was the fact that the waterfall was actually flowing through the key hole, so getting wet was unavoidable! At the top, the group found another route back down to the mini bus. It was a great morning, and we even learned something about the local graveyard!

We all came back to the centre for lunch, which was hot soup followed by various filled rolls, fruit and a sweet snack.

Then, it was the ropes for Miss Stuart’s group and the rock climbing and abseiling for Mr Purves’ ten.

For the rock climbing, we had to get helmets and harnesses with special clips called Carabinas, or Crab clips We travelled along to the big rock face by mini-bus and when we arrived there were a few comments such as “No way am I climbing that!” and “You must be joking!”

However, about 45 minutes later, we were all up at the top. Corrie had announced just before she set off “I’m terrified!” and now she was also at the top, looking down over the sheer face that we were all to abseil down… All I’ll say is that were a few tears from some before they set off, but everyone in the group managed it- and all were extremely proud of their efforts afterwards. Well done my group!! We then came back towards the centre, where we climbed on the indoor rock face - which by now seemed quite easy. We think that David might well have a future career as a stunt man, so spectacular was his abseiling!

Meanwhile Miss Stuart’s group thought the ropes were ace. To begin with, the group practiced on the smaller course, before going on to the main ropes in pairs. When climbing the structure, one person stayed at the bottom, holding the safety rope tight, while the other in the pair climbed towards the top of the 50 ft high structure. After reaching the top, there were various forms of acrobatics performed on the way down, and we have photos to prove it!

With our technology working a bit better today, we hope to have photos loaded on this evening.

(Today’s report was written with help from Connor, Olivia, Corrie and David)