Brentwood Preparatory School Incipe 2017-18

A Fly On The Wall - Year Five Finally, the coach drew into a car park. We had arrived! We were actually at Mersea Residential Island! We trembled with excitement at the prospect of staying away for 2 whole nights away from our parents. We shot out of our seats and began hurriedly gathering our belongings, shoved them into the small rucksacks we brought, and stepped out of the coach into the bright sunshine to collect our luggage... Our first activity was caving. Our instructor, Connor, told us the rules of caving and where the tunnels went. After that, we got into partners and we had on whole hour to explore the tunnels underground. Crawling along, we found a small, dark room with four different tunnels leading in different directions. Taking the left tunnel, we soon found a slide, like a helter skelter, except that this slide was a lot blacker, and a lot more steeper. Bravely, I crawled forwards, and slid down the tight slide. Finally we came to a larger tunnel and we crawled out into the fresh air. We could not believe how fast time had passed, because half an hour had already passed. I immediately dashed down the tube again, desperate for another adventure. As we scampered to low ropes, we watched the other activities going on. We gaped at the leap of faith, stared at the zip-wire, and gasped at the swing of height. Finally, we arrived at the low ropes. Our instructor helped us put our harness on and helmets on, and we were off! We swung on ropes to escape ‘landmines’, carefully, balanced across a rope, sat on a wooden seat, and swung across a gap with your team-mates pulling you across. Our instructor helped us with the activities, and although we argued a little, (alright, a lot), we felt fairly pleased as we trudged back to our campsite for dinner. At each bedtime we brushed our teeth, changed into our pyjamas, and snuggled down into our sleeping bags, before chatting quietly or reading for half an hour before torches were turned off, voices were silenced, and we drifted off to sleep, ready for another day of adventure. My Trip to Mersea For a break after the Year 5 Exams, our year did a multitude of fun things, including going to Harry Potter World and making stop-motion animation. But, the thing I found most interesting and wonderful would definitely be the trip to Mersea. We had so much fun and it was our second camping trip of KS2, this time 3 days away from home. It was filled with funny moments, some of which will never leave my mind. It all started with a bus ride. Upon which some of us got a bit sick. Well, I say a bit. In short, it was a 1 ½ hour ride with a lot of complaining and sickness bands everywhere; yet, it was quite enjoyable. For packing, people had gone overboard; I saw someone with 2 suitcases! One of my favourite activities was rock climbing. There were a few high activities and it was at Mersea I found my new-found fear of heights. Though it was tall, I did attempt to climb it, but after a few metres I just got L-O-S-T. I’m very short! Some people got to the very top, and that rock was very tall; I just sat there gaping at them. We also learnt how to belay; that means how to make sure the climber stays on their harness and they can be pulled up. Another heights course was called ‘Aerial Adventure’ and we were the only group to try it as it wasn’t originally on the list. It was towering and we were put on a harness again; we had to go in partners. Sophie was my ‘encourager’! I loved it, but I also hated it - I know, I’m very paradoxical. There was a huge surge of fear/adrenaline, which, by the way, no one else seemed to be getting! One of our last activities was an Adventure Course. Now, I know this seems vague, but we had a bucket that we named ‘Barry’ and we had to take it wherever we went. There were uphill tunnels which then went downhill, towers that needed orders and walls to climb. With Barry the Bucket (absurd, isn’t it?). To finish, there was this mud pit full of murky water; we had the choice to dive into it. I did. My clothes got more than muddy...they became a natural phenomenon. Of dirt. On the last day, we did just one activity, It’s a Knockout, and IT WAS OUT OF THIS WORLD! There were different teams, and the teachers also made a team, that had to complete a series of tasks. It was A-OK until one point. That was when we got dumped with cold water - basically, we had to hold a bucket above our head while water was being poured into it from a height. We had to position the bucket so it collected as much water as possible. I got soaked and I had to do all the other activities dripping wet! It was very hard to say goodbye to Mersea. Overall, it was an amazing trip and I couldn’t have thought of any way better to spend Enrichment Week! I will never forget this trip as I made an abundance of new memories. I look forward to Bushcraft next year, where we will spend 1 week away from home. All I hope is that there won’t be too many more heights! Brentwood School Preparatory 61