Year 5 trip to Burwell House
In Year 5, children all take part in a short residential visit to Burwell House. They enjoy a variety of activities whilst there, including making their own short films in a professional film studio as well as a host of team building exercises. Everyone thoroughly enjoys this great trip and the children all talk enthusiastically about the new skills they learn whilst away.
Burwell September 2025
01/10/25 - 8:45 - The children arrived with enthusiasm and excitement for the trip ahead! Suitcases wheeled up the drive and safely stored under the canopy... now just for the coach!
01/10/25 - 9:00 - A final briefing before going... an opportunity to focus on the amazing opportunities that await.
01/10/25 - 9:35 - We've been loading the coach and are now on our way!
01/10/25 - 10:30 - We have all safely arrived at Burwell... our bags are safely stored in one room, whilst we acclimatise to the site!
01/10/25 - 10:45 - time to listen to Sharon's briefing for our visit ahead... objectives, aims and expectations!
01/10/25 - 11:00 - We are off to enjoy the snail game. This is where there are a range of questions hidden around the grounds. After finding these, we had to answer them and get them checked by the adults. After this, we rolled a dice to discover what our next question would be.
01/10/25 - 11:45 - Snail Game Over! This was brilliant. All the children got fully involved - we have never had such a brilliant group who have attained to it for so long. Well done Year 5!
01/10/25 - 11:55 - Time to get ready for lunch! We heard about the expectations of how mealtimes at Burwell work - along with the fabled Golden Candelabra!
01/10/25 - 12:45 - We have enjoyed a wonderful lunch of lasagne, garlic bread and salad, followed by chocolate cake and custard! There were not many helpings of lasagne left over... but just enough to keep the adults' rumbling stomachs content! Mrs. Smith's table won the first golden candelabra, which was celebrated with a refined round of applause. There were some eager and determined faces ready to pull out their best table manners for dinner!
01/10/25 - 1:00 - A little bit of free time is now being enjoyed before our next activity!
01/10/25 - 1:30pm - The horn has just sounded to muster everyone for our next activity... Orienteering! The children are using their maps to locate physical and human features around them to orientate their maps.
01/10/25 - 1:45pm - We are undertaking our orienteering activity, using the maps to navigate different parts of the Burwell site. We've also been finding a range of control points with Burwell-themed words on them. This helped us learn about the geography and history of the Burwell area... from fen to peat; from tigers to lode!
01/10/25 - 3:00pm - free time and a snack of a homemade oat biscuit!
01/10/25 - 3:30pm - Time for a tour of the TV Studios! We've seen the HD cameras, green screen and control deck, ahead of tomorrow's filming.
01/10/25 - 4:00pm - time for rooms! Children headed up with enthusiasm to make their beds to varying degrees of success! However, it was great to see such great teamwork.
01/10/25 - 4:45pm - a fire drill briefing, before our fire drill at 5pm. The second practice was wonderful and the children were wonderfully silent and walked beautifully to the muster point.
01/10/25 - 5:30pm - A brilliant dinner of chicken goujons, wedges and beans was followed by chocolate brownie.
01/10/25 - 6::10pm - Free time- indoors and outdoors!
01/10/25 - 7:30pm - time for pyjamas and the soft toy competition! We enjoyed hearing a great variety of names, experiences and stories behind the special cuddly visitors that have accompanied us to Burwell.
01/10/25 - 9:00pm - time for bed! Settling in and getting ready, ahead of a (hopefully) peaceful night... watch this space!
02/10/25 - 07:00am - everyone is well after a reasonably peaceful night. We are looking forwards to breakfast and the day ahead!
02/10/25 - 8:00am - a brilliant breakfast of cereal, fruit, yoghurt, followed by hash browns, beans and toast.
02/10/25 - 9:00am - time for low ropes! These are a great mixture of team building games - including a giant seesaw, pole challenge and rope grabber challenge. The children worked exceptionally well and we saw some wonderful teamwork, communication and leadership skills.
02/10/25 - 10:30am - time for a short break and a practice of our scripts, accompanied by a snack of fresh fruit.
02/10/25 - This morning and afternoon are a carousel of activities based around the TV Studio and batik bags. Children enjoyed creating designs for their batik bags, before realising these with wax and dyes. When in the TV studios, pupils enjoyed bringing their scripts to life by performing in front of the cameras. Pupils also had the opportunity to operate the technical aspects for another group's performance. We look forward to seeing the finished videos! We had a lovely lunch of sandwiches, sausage rolls, salad and crisps.
02/10/25 - 5:30pm - after a busy day, we enjoyed pasta, tomato sauce and garlic bread.
02/10/25 - 7:30pm - time for the souvenir shop to open! Pupils are visiting the "bank" before selecting some lovely items to bring back!
02/10/25 - 8:00pm - the Premiere! All three groups' productions from the TV Studios were shared for the first time... these were all wonderful! From stories of a phoenix in France to a gentleman who can never finish his sentences... they covered a great range!
02/10/25 - 8:30pm - a few snacks and a short something to watch before bed!
02/10/25 - 9:00pm - up to bed, with lights out at 9:30pm.
02/10/25 - 10:00pm - it's very quiet... in most places of Burwell House! We are hoping that the Tooth Fairy will visit one room tonight.
03/10/25 - 7:00am - time to wake up and make the finishing touches to packing, along with stripping beds. It was a relatively peaceful night and the children are looking a little more refreshed than yesterday. We are all looking forward to the day ahead.
03/10/25 - 7:30am - many rooms have all their sheets stripped and in the correct laundry bins. Most people are also packed up too... it is very organised and civilised so far!
03/10/25 - 8:00am - off to breakfast and we hear that the Tooth Fairy managed to visit Caleb's pillow and perform a fair exchange for a shiny molar!
03/10/25 - 9:30am - Team challenges - a great variety of challenges to test communication and team work. Well done to all!
03/10/25 - 11:00 - a quick break before the legendary Burwell Fox... apparently there are some vicious farmers in these parts!
Year 6 trip to Grafham Water
Every year our Year 6 class visit Grafham Water for a three-day residential trip. Whilst there, the children take part in a huge variety of outdoor activities such as raft building, climbing and tackling the challenge of 'Jacob's Ladder'! Each class thoroughly enjoys this wonderful opportunity and return back to school full of wonderful tales of their adventures (plus the odd bit of wet and cold washing...). Below is a link to the official Grafham Water website, where you can get a taste of the activities on offer.
Grafham 2026... we have arrived!
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Year 6 Grafham Blog - September 2026
Monday 12th October
8:45am - excited faces arrived ready with bags bulging at the seams!
9:15am - off we go... by coach to Grafham!
10:10am - we enjoyed a tour of the site, to become familiar with what is where.
11:00am - some free time! We enjoyed exploring around the field.
11:40am - we headed over to the accomodation and "enjoyed" making our beds!
12:20pm - time for lunchtime in our new lounge!
2:00pm - first activities! We split into our three groups and started activities. One group sailed the funboats on the reservoir for the afternoon. This included a slip into the water from Leo and Ethan and a good swim at the end! The other two groups completed two shorter activities. One group climbed the indoor climbing wall and then undertook bushcraft of creating animal sculptures out of natural materials. The final group started on the highropes with a Jacob's Ladder challenge in teams. The winning team in this group was Grace, Peg and Mr. Grey - who made it to rung 6. The gauntlet has been thrown down and we will see who can top it! This group then took on archery - which was brilliant! They had to test their accuracy by shooting arrows in the correct order to 'build a pizza'!
5:40pm - Dinner time! Children chose either penne bolognaise with garlic bread or jacket potato with beans and cheese. This was followed by chocolate brownie or fruit salad. Everyone ate really well!
6:15pm - Grafham Challenge - this was a great hit. Children were geared up in their wet weather gear to undertake a blindfolded team challenge, following a guiding rope through challenges such as tyres, tunnels, trees and upturned boats! It was well set off by a variety of water additions and spooky exclamations from the adults!
7:30pm - time to wind down and have some free time. Some are showering... we promise (!) Others are getting into their cosy gear. At the moment, children can choose between some free time in the common room or their own bedrooms.
11:30pm - most children are asleep... although not all!
Tuesday 13th October
4:30am - one room requested a time check... the time was graciously provided - but with the orders to get back to bed before the busy day ahead.
7:00am - most children are up now and will be preparing for the day ahead.
7:50am - we are just starting to get ready to head over to our common room, before breakfast. There are a few rumbling tummies from both children and staff! Although, after last night's generously portioned bolognaise, I am not sure how!
8:10am - Breakfast time - poached eggs, hash browns, toast, cereal and fruit on offer. Lots of happy faces and tales of the giant spider in the girls dorm. Mrs. Haigh came to the rescue, cape billowing in the wind and brandishing a cup to rescue the poor terrified arachnid!
9:00am - we are getting ready for today's activities: mountain biking for all groups at some point today. Sadly, the wind forecast doesn't look right for one group to sail, so we will take the powerboat out instead.
12:00pm - The groups have enjoyed their first activities! Group 3 enjoyed an amazing orientation trip on a powerboat across the reservoir. Children took turns driving the boat and successfully navigated to the bouys! Group 1 and 2 enjoyed their joint cycle around the whole reservoir!
12:50pm - Lunch time! We enjoyed a feast of either cream of tomoato soup or penne pasta with tomato sauce with an optional sandwich and salad. This was great to build up our energy for our next activities. The children are doing remarkably well with their table manners and polite discussions at the table together.
2:00pm - Afternoon activities! Group 1 took part in Jacob's Ladder highropes, followed by the archery. Meanwhile, Group 2 enjoyed the climbing wall and bushcraft. Group 3 settled in for their amazing bike ride around the reservoir. It was so brilliant that the group made it back with 20 minutes to spare and the instructor stated that they were one of the best groups he'd ever taken for mountain biking. In fact, the different instructors had said the same in the morning to the other two groups - what a credit they are!
5:00pm - a little downtime before our dinner of either vegetarian sweet and sour "chicken" with fluffy rice and prawn crackers or sweet potato, lentil and chickpea balti, with fluffy rice and naan.
5:40pm - we enjoyed a wonderful meal. Mrs. Smith and Mr. Grey were delighted that one of the kitchen team came up especially to say how polite and well-mannered the children are... what another lovely compliment!
6:30pm - a little time to pack and arrange things in our rooms, before film night!
7:15pm - a trip down to the lounge to enjoy a film, share snacks and visit the shop! We enjoyed Ron's Gone Wrong, which was a resounding success amongst our film critics! Lots of laughs and chuckles!
9:00pm - we have headed back to the dormitories to settle and calm for a (hopefully) peacefull night, ahead of the big departure from the rooms in the morning.
10:00pm - lights out and a few in the boys area already snoring! Girls have enjoyed some new hair-styles at the Smith Salon!
Wednesday 14th October 2026
7:00am - all of the boys are up and their beds are stripped, bags are mostly packed and we are raring to go for another morning of activities! We are awaiting an update from the girls! We are excited about the bacon baps / vegetarian sausage baps for breakfast!
8:10am - We all enjoyed a great breakfast of bacon baps, beans on toast, cereal and toast to set us up for the day ahead!
9:00am - Mr. Grey led a game of camouflage to warm us up for the next activity. Well done to Ari, who won!
9:30am - Group 1 set off for sailing on the reservoir; Group 2 enjoyed the Jacob's Ladder and Archery; Group 3 enjoyed bushcraft den building and rock climbing.
12:30 - Group 1 and Group 3 are back and getting ready for lunch... Mrs. Dawson and Group 2 are still to arrive, so we may polish of their lunch! Mwa ha ha ha! ;-) (Ps. Florrie and Isabella L said that)