Year 5 PGL Adventure

Last Friday, Year 5 pupils excitedly boarded the bus to Liddington for their weekend residential to PGL. After some fun games and a large lunch, the groups worked on their use of senses, completing a sensory trail blindfolded. They also managed to use teamwork, leadership skills and communication to solve many problems including moving a “bomb” from one place to another without dropping it! A hearty dinner followed with an evening activity involving groups working together to stop a water balloon from popping using lots of different materials. Lights out at 9.15pm and day one was over. 

The second day started with an earlier than scheduled start and a full English breakfast! All the pupils pushed themselves to climb as high as they could on a super tall climbing wall. Fun games and challenges were the order of the day on micro scooters. Many Robin Hoods were found with some excellent accurate archers in the year group and all pupils getting better throughout the session. The final activity completed was a buggy build where pupils learnt how to make different knots to create a buggy using ropes, wood and barrels. An exciting stop due to thunder and lightning towards the end of the session meant we retreated back to our rooms. The activity for the evening was the great PGL challenge with groups competing to be the best team in a variety of events. 

Day three arrived and a much sleepier group woke up to the adventures of raft building. The pupils loved having to create the raft and managed to complete challenges before many chose to jump in the lake! Teamwork was key again as the children worked out how to complete a series of challenges on the challenge course. Calls of “on guard, lunge and parry” were shouted at each other as they learnt new fencing moves. Finally, the pupils attempted to get to the top of the vertical challenge overcoming fears, challenges and even racing each other to get to the top. Stormy weather halted the planned evening activity but this did not stop the children throwing themselves into a giant quiz styled like “family fortunes” in teams. A quick bag pack and an earlier bedtime brought the third day to a close. 

A final morning wake up call and it was time to pack up and leave our rooms ready for the last two activities. The giant swing enabled pupils to work together to pull their classmates to dizzying heights before they released themselves swinging backwards and forwards. A competitive game of aero ball finished the last day. 

The staff on site commented on how polite and respectful our pupils were. They all did so well in pushing themselves outside their comfort zones, helping each other and encouraging others. I couldn’t be prouder of all the pupils and hope they have made memories that last a lifetime. 

Well done Year 5!

Mr Dyer