Year 6

Welcome to the Great Bentley Y6 Webpage 2024-25 

Thursday 3rd July

Good morning everyone and it looks like it is going to be another beautiful day at PGL. It is currently 06:19 and there is not a murmur as I walk down our corridor. All is calm, all is quiet. I will start to wake the children shortly as we have breakfast at 7:35 this morning. The night was good once again and children continue to have a great time and behave brilliantly.

We have enjoyed our final full day at PGL massively. Over the course of the day, we have enjoyed lots of activities: Trapeze, Orienteering, Giant Swing, Abseiling and Problem Solving. We have seen so many children face up to fears, give new things a try and push new boundaries. These children really are AMAZING! They have astounded me with their attitudes and resilience all year and the adventures they have had this week sum it all up for me.

We concluded the day today with a campfire, marshmallows and lots of fun songs. The children are weary and exhausted but also determined to enjoy the last of the time we have together and as I write this there are squeals of fun and laughter echoing through the corridors of our accommodation. It is delightful to hear. 

This will be the final update of our week away. We are expecting to arrive back to school at approximately 3pm tomorrow but we will be in touch with the school office and will keep you updated about arrival times. Please keep an eye out for messages from them.

Finally, it has been an absolute pleasure to be looking after your children this week. We, as the staff team, are absolutely exhausted - but we really wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

Over and out.

Mr Caffull, Mrs Vaughan and Miss Smith.

Wednesday 2nd July

Another successful night here at Bawdsey! All children slept really well and I had the pleasure of waking them all up this morning!

After a great breakfast, we all headed out for our morning activities which were a sensory trail for all and either Jacob's Ladder or the Giant Swing depending on the groupings.  All children will complete the same activities over the week but today we saw a split where some children completed activities which others won't do until tomorrow or Friday. This has given them lots to talk about as we meet together during meal times and the small amounts of free time we have.

After lunch, we all took part in zip wire and rifle shooting activities.  These were in no way linked and we still have a full compliment of children! ;-)

After dinner we had a great whole class session of Archery Tag where they had to fire (safe) arrows at each other to try and eliminate the other players. 

We have seen the first signs of fatigue today with some children being quite tired. The children were impeccably behaved last night - I think that there will be lots of children who fall straight asleep tonight. (Maybe that is wishful thinking...)

Photos are on their way and will not be long.

Mr Caffull

Tuesday 1st July

The first night of staying away from home went surprisingly well! Children's behaviour was excellent and there was very little need for staff to interject. This has been indicative of everything we have done so far - the manners and politeness of the children is amazing. They are doing the school, and you as parents, proud. That said, there was a group of boys awake at 4am this morning and without a timepiece between them, they decided to all get dressed ready for the day!

Breakfast was welcomed by all when we turned up just before 8am. That was swiftly followed by a visit to the lake for canoeing. This activity was going along just fine until the children decided to spoil it by capsizing Mr. Caffull's boat! This activity was swiftly followed by an adventure on the challenge assault course before lunch.  Our visit to the shop came next. Many of the children used their maths skills brilliantly to make sure their total spend was exactly £15 so they didn't need any change!

This afternoons activities were climbing and archery. There were quite a few children who didn't want to take part in climbing citing a fear of heights. I'm delighted to report that every single member of the class participated and did very well. Archery was tricky and offered the children a welcome opportunity to sit down for a break when it was not their turn. Despite the difficulty involved, the children did well with many arrows hitting their target. Miss Smith even hit a bullseye. (She hasn't stopped talking about it since either! :-) )

We have now eaten dinner and tonight we are due to play some 'PGL games' on the green before retiring back to our dorms where the teaching staff are hopeful that some sleep will be on the cards. However, seeing how much Dr. Pepper was bought at the shop, that may be too much to ask.

I will upload some photos later but please bear with me - there are a lot and the upload process is not straightforward. I will get to these as soon as I can but will be dependent on the children too.

Next update - tomorrow.

Mr Caffull

Monday 30th June

We arrived at PGL at 12:45 and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the grass. We were soon whisked away for our first activities and have enjoyed buggy building and a lovely walk, taking in the history of the manor house and then walking to the beach. 

We have now been allocated our rooms and are settling in nicely.  Dinner was great tonight and all children have eaten well.  Shortly, we will be going for our evening activity - a game of Cluedo!  More updates later!

Cluedo was great! We had a blast and we are now getting ready to get tucked in for the night.

Some photos have now been uploaded to the secure area of the website for you to enjoy.

 HAPPY PGL DAY!!!!!!

Updates on our residential trip to Bawdsey Manor will appear here each evening. Please be patient - the wifi/signal at Bawdsey is notoriously tricky and our first priority will always to be with the children.  We will send off the updates each evening as we are able. Thanks for your support. Mr Caffull.

THE CHILDREN HAVE SAFELY ARRIVED AND ARE ENJOYING THEIR FIRST ACTIVITIES!

YEAR 6 BAWDSEY MANOR PGL 2025 SECURE PAGE

Please note that the password for the protected site below will be shared with parents of those on the trip only. Please check emails to find the passcode for the page and click on the 'Open pop-up window' button below.

Again, a reminder that photos can only be posted in the evenings when it is possible, but we will share all photos taken with families via this secure page after the week away so that you can download these for your family albums.

Thank you for your patience. 

VIPERS questions to help listening to your child read.

Reading VIPERS questions