Year 5 on an Adventure in Wales

The Autumn Term means only one thing for many of our Year 5s: Naturesbase. This is a trip that is eagerly anticipated by all of the Year 5s, though for some it is a little daunting to travel so far and spend 3 nights away from home.

This year we took our biggest ever group of year 5s with 55 pupils travelling to Wales in total. This meant that the whole year group were able to visit the centre at the same time. Indeed, for 18 pupils and 2 members of staff there was the added adventure of spending their nights under the canvas of Naturesbase tents! 

The Year 5s were kept busy from Wednesday afternoon all the way through to Saturday with a variety of challenges and activities. We started with teams of 6-8 children carrying out various team-building challenges, mostly in the pouring rain, not that this bothered us. After a great meal (Shepherd's Pie followed by brownies!) we grabbed our torches and headed into the dark to complete the Naturesbase stamp orienteering course with the added challenge of trying to avoid being captured by Gyles! 

Day 2 involved a cooked breakfast followed by a 6 mile walk from the centre to the pretty town of Abaraeron on the coast. We stopped on the way for a picnic lunch next to the river and also explored a National Trust House, learning about how people lived in the valley 150 years ago. Upon reaching the coast we were all treated to a lovely ice cream before the children spent an hour on the beach making theme parks for crabs! Upon returning to Naturesbase we had supper followed by a quiz, showers and bed.

Friday saw the Year 5s heading out into the fresh air again; this time to learn bushcraft and survival skills. Tamsin and Tamlyn our two instructors, supported Gyles as we learned about surviving in the Welsh countryside. We tried eating various leaves and berries from a hedgerow before heading into the woods to build shelters. These had to pass a waterproofing test which involved a bucket of water being poured on the shelter while the team huddled inside! We also were shown 4 different ways to light a fire, none of which involved matches, before gathering some (rather sodden!) wood and starting our own fires. We had to boil dragon vomit on these before we were allowed to roast and eat sugar slugs - ask your child! On Friday evening we got involved in jewellery, candle and soap making, using nature's ingredients before designing our own pizzas to be baked in Gyles' wood fired oven. As always our last night concluded with a rousing singalong around a campfire. 

After the long return journey we made it back to Hazlegrove muddy, tired and rather smelly, but unquestionably happy after four fun and action packed days. A huge thank-you to Gyles, Alison and the whole Naturesbase team for looking after us so well!

Mr Jenkins

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