Geography with a difference…. another very wet day of learning practical geography up at Easedale Tarn. Despite the rain, the form worked together to reach a stunning, and rewarding, view of the lake. Special mentions go to Callum and Lajya: both students displayed an impressive amount of resilience to reach the views!

The day finished with a walk around the pedestrian area in Keswick buying sweets – and antiques- some very thoughtful presents were purchased. The sweet shop owner came to find the staff to say what ‘lovely, polite and well behaved children we have’. 

Today’s watersport was kayaking which taught pupils many new skills and involved getting wet (very) for quite a few! They quickly picked up the paddling skills and enjoyed using them in the games on the lake.

Rock climbing was fun and challenging – described by Harriet as ‘very satisfying when I reached the top. Sophie spurred me on and we encouraged each other to climb quickly.’  Bouldering was even harder because there were no ropes. ‘The instructor played a game of ‘all the floor is lava’ which made us all laugh as we tried our hardest to stay high up. Mr Strange lasted two rounds of the game before he fell onto the lava – that was very funny!’  And today’s future Chris Bonington was Abbie whose gymnastic skills saw her fly to the top of the wall!  

In archery the pupils were taught how to hold a bow correctly and did several rounds each of close range shooting. Did you know that your feet are just as important as your upper body technique? Lukas explains that ‘the correct stance (feet placed horizontal to the target) provides both balance and power’.

Problem solving was an enlightening experience. Most pupils found the teamwork element the hardest, with Sam commenting that he had learnt to ‘stay calm and take a deep breath’ when it gets hard to pull together as a team.

And to finish the day – a game to build the tallest structure from spaghetti and marshmallows!