Super day! Following the amazing walk this morning - and the large breakfast - the children completed the last two of the three set activities. For those orienteering, they were given the freedom to wander around the vast Avon Tyrrell site. It was fantastic to see them working in small teams with such commitment to finding the next orienteering marker. The art/history groups have drawn the most beautiful pictures of new forest trees in addition to creating big art from items found on the forest floor. They also learnt about the house they have been sleeping in, with it's 365 windows, 12 chimneys, 7 entrance ways and 52 rooms  - otherwise known as a calendar house. The problem solving/shelter building groups really flourished when selecting and using natural resources available to them to build a water proof (sometimes not!) shelter. The final test for the children was for some water to be tipped onto their shelters. I can safely say that I took this further by showing some children the pleasures of the Sri Lankan monsoon period - they got particularly wet!

Before dinner the children sang happy birthday for three friends in the year group and enjoyed birthday cake  - chocolate cake always goes down well with children...and staff. This gave them plenty of energy to create their New Forest Charms.

What next for tonight? Dinner - sweet and sour chicken/vegetable stir fry with spring rolls and Chinese rice followed by waffles and chocolate sauce. We will then move to the camp fire where there will be more chocolate in the form of s'mores. The question is...do we then give the children hot chocolate once they have showered after the camp fire?!

To celebrate world book day I will be having a 'story off' with Mrs Downer at the camp fire. I just hope that I can remember Jon Scieszka's Stinky Cheese Man!

The children have been great today and I'm sure, after such an action-packed day, they will sleep well. My last message will be tomorrow morning.

If you hear some terrible singing wafting over Fair Oak between 7-8pm, please accept my apologies. On this occasion, the children will not be going for musical excellence around the camp fire, but rather a really good laugh and memory of fun learning experiences with friends.

Wakey, wakey! The children had their early morning start this morning after a really good night's sleep. Waking the children up was not as difficult as I  had thought it would be as they were quite tired. The beautiful mist over the New Forest was beckoning them for their morning walk! I had no idea that a morning walk could be so audible! SQUELCH was the resounding noise heard during the walk. The children travelled through bogs and  large puddles and used tree logs to get over expanses of water. As we were safely helping children from one side to the other, there was a chorus of 'log or bog, log or bog'. It is really quite amazing how the terrain had changed from the walk we had been on with the first group.

Once the walk had finished, the children enjoyed the famous Avon Tyrrell breakfast - cereal, hash browns, eggs, bacon, toast and beans.

At the moment all the children are in their rooms getting ready for the very strict room inspections - which are rather competitive!

Last night's games and walk went incredibly well and the children really enjoyed using the moonlight to sow them the way. At 8.40pm, all the children looked up towards Orion's belt.

What a great first day! The children had a good trip down to the New Forest and were greeted by waving friends from the previous group...as well as friendly faces from the staff!

The three main activities during Avon Tyrrell are: Orienteering, Problem Solving including Shelter Building and Art/History study. This afternoon the children completed one of the three activities. I have seen some wonderful art from the children, palatial shelters made from the forest and experienced the highs and lows of finding and not finding an orienteering marker; this was all after a rather mammoth lunch of salmon fishcakes/pizza/jacket potato/salad bar etc.

There's still a lot to get in today - supper (and pudding), Night games, Night walk, showers and Hot Chocolate.

The weather has been fantastic all day; we're really looking forward to star gazing during our night walk. If you are free at around 8.40pm, look for Orion's belt, as we will be looking straight at it!

....and so it ends. The Monday to Wednesday group of children have been delightful and a real credit to themselves, the school and to you, their parents. No doubt you are looking forward to getting them home where they will regale you with stories of intrigue, interest and wonderment...I hope. The children have experienced an amazing house set in the beautiful New Forest.

Last night we enjoyed s'mores around the camp fire, heard of Mr Askew's past life as a number one pop sensation in North America (not really!) and gazed up at the stars - a perfect end to a wonderful residential.

Thank you for letting us share these memories with your children.

What an amazing day! You've already heard about the breath-taking morning walk we had into the New Forest. I have to say again, that the children gained a great deal from the walk. We are so lucky to have the New Forest on our doorstep.

The children completed two more activities this afternoon. Two of the following:- Orienteering really encouraged the children to be independent. It was wonderful to watch all children flourish. The art activity allowed children to be inspired by the fascinating trees around the house and the interesting history of Avon Tyrrell. Shelter building was great fun today. I'm not sure how successful all the shelters were (whether they kept water in or out), but they certainly looked impressive!

Before supper the children started to create their New Forest dream catchers from the twigs they collected from the forest floor this morning. They look great!

What next for today? Supper, camp fire including marshmallows and camp songs, showers, hot chocolate and bed.

The children are looking forward to going home, but have enjoyed their time and recognised that they have taken part in a very special residential in an awe-inspiring place.

Good morning everyone. It seems like we've been up since 6.45! Hold on...we have. The children had great fun this morning going on their morning walk into the new forest. Not only did we see deer and ponies, we also heard Greater Spotted wood peckers. The children described the walk as amazing and well worth the early get up!

Night time went really well, despite the very loud rain  at 5am!

We are all getting ready to go to our next activity.

We left school at about 10.40 this morning. The journey to the New Forest went well and the children were really looking forward to their residential.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Danny who told us about a few do's and don'ts as well as the fire precaution, which came in handy as we did have a trial fire alarm!

After a tour and a rather hearty lunch, we began our first activity. For some it was orienteering, for others problem solving and shelter building and for the last group - art/history. Everything went incredibly well even with a down pour of hail stones - which Mrs Welsh made into a 'hail stone angel' session.

The children enjoyed the challenge of making their beds - which in itself is a complex learning activity!

We look forward to two night games and a night walk this evening, followed by hot chocolate!

Take a look at the website tomorrow for another update and more pictures.