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 - 2026
Wednesday 17th June
8:45am - excited faces arrived ready with bags bulging at the seams!
9:15am - off we go... by coach to Grafham, with a range of football chants all the way!
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 and a quick game of football.
12:00pm - we enjoyed a quick bite to eat, before heading over to the accomodation.
12:30pm - time to familiarise ourselves with our sleeping quarters and get those beds made. It appears the preparation of attending Burwell and making beds paid off for a relatively smooth bed-making session!
2:00pm - we met in our groups to each take part in a range of activities: high ropes and kiting for two groups, whilst the other set off in the boats on the lake…. Needless to say, there are some wet clothes and smiles! We saw amazing resilience on the highropes, with pupils conquering their fears. Miss Baron and Mr Grey also made guest appearances up at the top too! We were very proud to see how pupils cheered each other along. The weather has been wonderful, but that didn’t necessarily lend itself so well for kiting!
5:00pm - a little bit of free time, to change and get ready for dinner!
5:40pm - we visited our new common room, which has a terrace overlooking the lake! Then we headed into dinner of roast chicken or a cheesy brocolli pasta. This was followed by jelly or chocolate brownie… very happy customers all-round!
6:15pm - a little free time on the field … football, gymnastics, chats!
7:00pm - our evening activity of orienteering has begun with lots of enthusiasm!
9:00pm - getting ready for some evening activities, including a choice of watching the first half of the England v Croatia game!
9:10pm - celebrations of the first goal... and later the second goal!
10:00 - time for settling in for bed.
18th June
6:45am - most of the children are awake after a generally good night's sleep. Everyone is in good spirits to discover what is for breakfast and today's activities of raft building, mountain biking, kiting and high ropes.
8:00am - poached eggs, hash browns, beans and toast for breakfast! Additional cereal and fruit were on offer too.
9:30am - activities are underway! Group 1 are kiting before exploring the high ropes; group 2 are raft building and group 3 are off for a bike around the reservoir… everyone is in good spirits! We also had the bonus of seeing some former Shelford pupils, who are now in Y9, visiting for the day.
5:00pm - we are all back from a busy day of activities. Gearing up for either bolognaise or macaroni cheese for tea!
6:30pm - dinner was enjoyed by all! We are puting our orders in for souvenirs with our gift shop accountant Mrs Dawson! At the same time, we have kindly been allowed to use the low-ropes. Mr. Grey also taught the class the game 'Camouflage'!
7:30pm - time for a little surprise from the Shelford School Covid archive! We shared the class' Year 1 Talent Show from 2021 with them! Their faces were a delight and it was a special moment to look together at how far they have come! From magic, to original music and from ballet to skipping... it was a real treat! We then watched a film together, before seeing the sunset across the reservoir.
10:00pm - it is mostly quiet in the rooms now. Lots of happy memories have been made from today and there are definitely some sleepy children aboard HMS Grafham x Shelford!