Trip Letters

12th February 2014 

KS2 RESIDENTIAL 

Dear Parents, 

Many thanks for attending last night’s meeting. As promised, this letter will confirm some of the major points made last night. 

With many thanks to the PTFA, the cost of the trip has now been reduced to £150. The school budget is also being used to subsidise the trip. 

Ten activities are planned for all of the children. These are as follows: 

  • High Ropes            
  • Initiative Games             
  • Raft Building               
  • Archery             
  • Indoor Caving        
  • Boulder Wall/Abseiling           
  • Low Ropes                
  • Camp Fire               
  • Fencing and Games/Awards 

These will be differentiated according to age and ability. Children will be encouraged to participate and learn in every activity, but will not be made to do anything they do not want to do. The main aims of the residential are to provide children with opportunities to work together, team build and learn new outdoor activity skills. 

The Pioneer Centre is an extremely secure site. All of the activities take place within a gated compound. The instructors are all fully trained, have the relevant national qualifications and are DBS checked. 

The children will be sleeping in rooms which have en-suite facilities and cater for four or five. Meals are of an excellent quality and cater for all diets. A full equipment list will be sent home shortly, but specialist clothing is not needed. In fact, children will need to bring clothes that you do not mind them getting dirty. Trainers – preferably old ones – and anoraks/waterproofs will also be the preferred option. 

We are encouraging every child to take part in this experience. It is an opportunity for children to learn something completely different and is very relevant to the National Curriculum. Equally, the residential part of the experience is needed because none of the activities could take place at school with staff who have not got the relevant qualifications. St. Andrew’s staff will be on-site at all times. There will be a named person for each child so that they are fully supported at all times.  

I apologise for the estimated cost of the visit not being communicated to parents at an earlier time. I am hoping that a slight reduction in cost, the facility to pay the cost weekly and the extension of the final payment so that the full amount does not have to be in school until the 12th May (an additional month) will be of some help. 

Further details, consent forms, and requests for medical and diet details will be sent out after half term. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

N.B. Please could deposits (£30) be paid by Monday 24th February (1st Monday back after half term)

 

 

A.S Marsh

Headteacher

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KS2 RESIDENTIAL – May 19th – May 21st 2014

Dear Parents,

As you will be aware, I have arranged for all children in KS2 to take part in a residential experience at The Pioneer Centre. We would like to take all children in Years 3,4, 5 and 6 (the classes of Miss Hassler, Mrs Newth, Miss Rowson, Miss Stephens, Mrs Johnson and Mrs Stephenson) to the centre, near Cleobury Mortimer for three days and two nights from May 19thth to May 21st.

A meeting to discuss the residential will take place on Tuesday 11th February at 6pm.

The last residential, at Wilderhope Manor in 2012, gave children the opportunity to study geographical and science based activities on Wenlock Edge and at nearby Carding Mill Valley. This residential is designed to give children new experiences within the PE curriculum, particularly outdoor sports.  It also offers excellent opportunities for team-building and the development of personal and social skills. The centre is run on Christian foundations and its management base is within Northampton LA’s Youth Service. It has nearly sixty years experience in looking after young people and yet the accommodation on this site is up-to-date and has new facilities being added every year. All activities are led by highly qualified instructors.

Years 3 and 4 will be accommodated within a separate block to the children from Years 5 and 6 and yet there will be ample opportunity to meet up at meal times and for social events, particularly in the evening. Children will sleep in secure dormitory blocks and looked after by school staff. They will sleep in small dormitories, each having its own en-suite facilities, catering for no more than four children. At least twelve members of staff will accompany the pupils and there will be one school adult allocated to each working group of twelve children.

More details will follow, once the itinerary has been confirmed with the centre, but it is expected that the children will leave school to arrive at the Pioneer Centre at midday on the Monday, take part in three activities that day, have a full day of five activities on the Tuesday and return home on the Wednesday mid afternoon having taken part in a final two activities during the morning. All activities are differentiated according to age and are designed to give primary-aged children an introduction to outdoor education. All of the activities are within the centre grounds with many taking part in purpose-built buildings.

The main aims of the visit are to help children experience new activities, encourage co-operation, and prepare them for the type of residential that most secondary schools offer with children taking their new-found skills in to more challenging outdoor areas such as Snowdonia, where. For example, rock-climbing will be on rocks and not on safe climbing walls. The whole experience is recommended by Shropshire LA and many of my colleagues from nearby schools believe that the Pioneer Centre is one of the most important parts of the primary curriculum that they offer. The centre guarantee that children will have opportunities to be captivated, motivated, enthused, encouraged and stretched whilst studying, building, working together, evaluating their own and others performances; having fun, investigating and problem-solving.

Depending on age, the following activities on offer include:

Falconry; high and low ropes; wildlife experience; archery, bridge-building; raft building; search and rescue; fencing; circus skills; night walk; ice-cream challenge; orienteering; camp fire; heated outdoor swimming pool; aerial runway; team games – as well as facilities for indoor and outdoor games such as football, netball, basketball and cricket.

Members of staff have already taken part in a residential at the centre four years ago and they are very impressed by the ethos, the quality of the instructors, the facilities, the food, the accommodation and the vision of the centre for developing young people. Members of staff will be re-visiting the centre very shortly to confirm the programme and ensure that all paperwork and risk assessments have been completed. If you would like to learn more, we are hoping to hold a evening where we can show you videos of the centre, maybe meet some of the centre staff and answer any of your questions. Details of this meeting will be sent out shortly.

Contributions towards the cost of the visit will be £160. Reduced rates will be in place for parents who have more than one child in KS2. This will help cover accommodation; trained instruction, food, specialist clothing and transport to and from the centre. I would be grateful if you could complete the form below. A deposit of £30 per child is required. This can be paid at the meeting or by Tuesday 18th February.  We will be able to offer opportunities for you to pay the balance of the trip either as a lump sum or by paying instalments to the school office; all monies must be paid by Thursday 10th April.  These amounts should be placed in a secure envelope with your child(ren)’s name clearly marked on the envelope. Office staff will keep a record of the amounts paid.

We are hoping that every child in Key Stage 2 will be able to enjoy this unique experience. If you would like further information before the open evening, you may wish to access the centre’s website. The address is:

www.actioncentres.co.uk/pioneer-centre/

 

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

PIONEER CENTRE RESIDENTIAL

 

Please circle one of the following:

 

I would like to attend the meeting on Tuesday 11th February at 6pm

(Please note that parents of children in Year 6 will be invited to a meeting at 6.30pm to

discuss SATs)

 

I cannot attend the meeting but would like to have some more information.

 

 

Child(ren)’s name(s): …………………………………………………………………………………………. Class/es……………………..                  

 

Signed:……………………………………………………………

 

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