Year 4 spent three action-packed days at Hindleap Warren, an activity centre set in over 300 acres of forest land near Ashdown Forest. They proved themselves to be supportive team-mates, brave when faced with difficult challenges, fantastic problem-solvers – and great fun to be with.
Once the first challenge of putting a duvet into a duvet case had been accomplished as children settled into their rooms, many more followed. Many children overcame their fear of heights to find they enjoyed the zip-wire and the climbing wall, pushing themselves much further than they had believed possible. There appeared to be amazing marksmen among the number in indoor archery and many of the activities fostered mutual support, co-operation and problem-solving as well as fun: the night walk, team challenges and witch’s tree.
The highlight for many of them was the forest adventure – a whole afternoon spent trekking through extremely muddy terrain through the forest, following the paths of streams followed by a walk up a small river valley – in the river. This culminated in the Mud Olympics – an optional challenge which very many of the children opted into! They pulled themselves through muddy channels, made mud angels, swam in cold river water – and had a thoroughly good time together! What a great few days Year 4 all had together with many happy memories to draw on!
“I liked the zip line and the rock climbing the best because the instructors were encouraging me to do it and I had great fun doing it. I’d feel much more confident trying these activities again!” – Jack
“I loved the night walk because I saw a fox and 2 deer. It was funny when Mrs Dawar got us confused because it was so dark.” – Finley
“The best activities for me were the rock climbing and the team challenge. I especially liked the team challenge because we had to do a range of challenges. My favourite was when we had to get the bottle from the pretend nuclear field it was stuck in, without it touching the floor!” – Shanaya
