Eaton Vale Primary Residential Trip Reflection

The Year 7s have been reflecting on the Summer Term in Year 6 and their final memories of primary school. Coco, Jasmine, Sam, James and Luca decided to write about the primary trip to Eaton Vale Activity Centre. Read on to find out all about the activities they engaged with and the lessons they learnt along the way!

Day 1 - James and Luca

We got there by bus and went to our rooms with our groups and went to our first activity. First we did archery as our first activity and it was really good fun. They were targets to shoot and you got to make up your pretend ice cream flavours by hitting the target the colour you hit was you pretend ice cream flavour.

Our next activity was buggy building. This was where we got a bunch of materials and made a buggy. We made two and raced them down the hill and it was really fun.

Then we did backwood building, where you learn how to cook in the woods by getting cotton wool and a flint and steel and make a fire to cook on.

The dinner was incredible, the chicken pasta bake was amazing and the pudding was superb (ice cream and chocolate fudge cake).

The last activity of the day was Eggbert’s escapade which was where we were set into groups and each group was given an egg and we had to gather resources to protect that egg. Then once the timer was up someone would throw the egg in the air and if it didn't break then it is a success - if not fail. It was really fun and a great end to the day. 

Quotes ( For day 1):

“I think it was fun because you worked in groups to create an indestructible egg and then they would throw it to see if it cracked or not.” - Coco (Y7)

“My favourite activity was backwoods cooking because the food was good” - Evan (Y7)

“My favourite activity was archery because I liked just shooting the bow and arrow and trying to aim for the bullseye.” - Henry (Y7)

“My favourite activities for day 1 were backwoods cooking and eggbert’s escapades because you got light wool on fire for cooking and for eggbert’s escapade it was funny watching all the failed attempts.” - James (Y7)

Day 2 - Jasmine and Coco

Crate stacking

First we decided on the two people who were going to stack crates and the two people who were climbing first. We then made a line and organised who was going to control the ropes with a boss, a V.I.P and a bell ringer. Then the two people began stacking up the crates and letting the other two people climb slowly up the crates carefully. The highest up we could go was 16 crates. If the two people did not fall down one of them would push the other off or they would knock the crates down and you would slowly fall onto the floor because of the harnesses holding you.

“It was very exciting because you don’t know when the crates are going to fall.” - James in Y7

“I found the crate stacking very fun and very exciting and I had faith in my friends to operate the ropes properly and not to let me fall. It felt like I was running in the air.” - Jasmine in Y7

“I enjoyed the fact that we did it in groups and it was very fun to see how far and how high you could get on the crates. I liked how we did it in groups because you were doing it together and it felt less scary and you could come down whenever you liked” - Lottie in Y7

Cave Bus

On this day we did the Cave Bus which in my opinion was one of the best activities that we did at Eaton vale. I was in group 2, we had helmets with lights on. We had a choice between keeping the light on or we could leave it off.We had to army crawl through these narrow passageways. 

" I found it very fun and confusing and I found it really funny. Because everyone was calling each other through the caves and there were these giant like gaps that you fall into and find the next tunnel in the dark. There was also a space above where you could look down on the people who were entering the cave." – Sam yr7

"It was perfect and amazing." – James yr7.

Raft building

We first built our rafts with ropes and barrels in our teams and all together pushed our rafts into the water and did a range of hard activities on our raft like sticking our thumbs in the water at the same time (when I half our crew fell over) and trying to stand up on our rafts. After we got out of the water we got to jump into the water by cannonballing or pencil jumping. 

"My favourite activity was raft building because we named our boat and then we beat the other team because theirs sank first and I was the only survivor on my team everyone else fell into the water" – Evan yr7.

“I found it exciting and funny because when we were on the H.M.S breadstick (Our raft) I found it funny that when we were in the middle of the lake half of our raft fell apart and half of our crew fell off.” - Luca in Y7

“I felt happy when I jumped off and it was very enjoyable. It was my favourite activity and I really loved it.” - Eve in Y7

“I thought it was a nice activity for all of us to work together to create a final raft. The best part was when our raft broke in half.(H.M.S breadstick)” - Sam in Y7

Low ropes

Low ropes were right after we had raft building so after we had a shower. And then we headed down towards low ropes. We were put into groups and we were blind folded and you had to do these different activities which we had to complete completely blind. 

"I thought low ropes was a fun experience because of how fun it was walking around with your friends with a blind fold on who were trying to catch you!" – Coco yr7.

"I really enjoyed low ropes. It was fun in my group. It was me, Eve and sam. it was really fun but i wish we had longer." – lottie yr7.

Quiz night

We were all separated into groups and we were given a pen and a piece of paper and we had to answer the questions that they gave. It was all general knowledge then after we had quiz night we had hot chocolate and biscuits and then we went to bed.

“Quiz night was good because our team won and the questions were fun.”  - Evan in Y7

“It was fun because we got to choose our own groups and the prizes were very cool.” Lottie in Y7

Day 3 - Sam

As the sun rose on the third day we went down stairs at 8:00AM where we were met with an amazing breakfast made by the staff. We headed out to our first of two activities. We went to trapeze first and learned how to use the ropes to pull up the person doing the trapeze. There was the V.I.P and the boss. People had to pull the person doing the trapeze up the ladder to the jumping board. Once they were there they jumped to try and grab a bar and then they would be lowered to the ground. Eve from Year 7 writes: “It was high and scary but at the same time it was really enjoyable. I felt like I was flying until I wasn’t and I was being supported by the rope.”

Next was a nature connection where we had a scavenger hunt. Our instructor gave us a hint and we had to find the object. Then we told our partner to hug a tree blindfolded and find the tree again. Lottie from Year 7: “I found it fun. It was very nice to know that I have good friends.” 

Then we went to pack to go and the results for the tidiest room was awarded to the 'Kings Lynn' room and they got a prize of bubbles! We went outside to have lunch and to play with the bubbles. We were chasing after each of the bubbles trying to pop them before we went back to school. Jasmine from Year 7 writes: “Honestly winning was kind of a victory because last time we were so close to winning but the other room beat us and it felt like something we had all worked toward.”

Then we finished playing and the mini-buses came and we took a group photo outside the building. We were having fun and getting ready to play card games on the way back. Mrs Bordoli-Marsh writes: “I felt very grateful to take such a well behaved group of risk-takers away on the trip!” 

So in conclusion, the trip was fun and enjoyable to go on. The meals and activities that were made and run by the staff are most enjoyable from  archery and backwoods cooking to trapeze and nature connection. We had a most enjoyable time at Eaton Vale.