Today, Class 3 became the small village of Huckleberry and the children were all very worried villagers. One of the villagers, Reginald, had gone missing. Luckily, we managed to find a few pieces of his journal which gave us clues as to who or what took him!
After lots of hunting and village discussions, we found out that Reginald had been taken by the Winter Dragons! Looks like we are going to need a dragon expert…
This morning, Class 3 had a visit from Darran who is a local firefighter. He came to discuss fire safety with the children and what do in a fire emergency.
Yesterday morning, some of the children from Class 3 had the opportunity to go to Church Stretton and take part in an orienteering event. They worked in groups of 4 to follow the map and find the different markers.
The children had a brilliant time and the sun was shining, which made it even better!
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Yesterday, Class 3 had a visit from the illustrator Katy Alston, who led a brilliant workshop showing the children how she creates her maps. She showed the children the different maps she has created of areas in Shropshire and how she goes from simple sketches to producing the finished piece.
The children asked lots of questions about her maps and enjoyed finding places they knew. They were then able to begin sketching their own maps of Clun which we will add to over the coming weeks.
The map of Clun created by Katy Alston 
Her ‘dog’s dinner’ stage 
Her beginning sketches 
On the last morning of Arthog, we all went down to the beach and the children created some amazing artwork! We had a fantastic week and this was a brilliant way to end it!
Last night, the children braved the night line. They had to follow a rope around an obstacle course in the dark, and to make it more difficult some children had blindfolds on! 
Today, we all went rock climbing and canoeing. One group went bouldering on the beach and sat in a bothy to have their snack next to a fire. They even had the company of a bat! The other group climbed up Bird’s rock and had spectacular views while climbing. This afternoon, we all went canoeing together. The children all had a great time and then Jay gave them all challenges to complete on the water.
Tonight, we are having a games night with pictionary, charades and a quiz.
Last night, we had a lovely relaxing evening at the centre. We gathered around a firepit and made smores before heading to bed.
Today, we started off with gorge walking which the children absolutely loved! The water was flowing very fast and the children were being incredibly helpful and supportive to each other. They had to work together to get up the gorge and push through the water that was trying to drag them back down. The slide at the top was incredibly fast and the children had a great time racing down.
This afternoon, we went for a hill walk but not just any hill walk, a hill scramble that required helmets and a lot of nerve! The children had to walk up Llynnodd Coegennan. They scrambled up boulders, enjoyed stunning views and listened to another brilliant story from our instructor, Jay.
Tonight, we are about to enjoy a roast and then we have the night line!
Last night, we all got wrapped up in our waterproofs and braved the night time walk across the embankment to Fairbourne. All the children were in very good spirits, considering it was absolutely chucking it down the whole way! We all enjoyed a well-deserved hot chocolate before bed time.
Today, we all started our day with a TrailQuest. Our groups went off in separate directions and had to complete different challenges in order to win puzzle pieces. These challenges encouraged the children to work together as a team. They had to 3 main attributes in order to work successfully. Communication, kindness and an all for one and one for all attitude!
Once the children completed all the challenges, the puzzle pieces created a map to the treasure, which was a huge bag of marshmallows!
After TrailQuest, we all went and did raft building. The children learnt different knots to secure the barrels and planks together to create fantastic rafts! They all got thoroughly soaked and lots of laughs were had!
On Wednesday afternoon, the whole school participated in an afternoon of scientific investigation. Everyone worked in groups with children mixed from all other classes, ranging from Nursery to Year 6. Each group had a science leader from Class 3, who helped the children with their investigations. It was a fantastic afternoon and great fun was had by all!
We all went out onto the field in our groups.
Some children had a go at finding out which bubble wand would produce the best bubbles! They had to make their bubble solution first and their own wands.
Other groups were making their own lava lamps with oil, water, food colouring and fizzy vitamin tablets.
Another investigation was the lemon volcano. Children had to halve a lemon and add baking powder and food colouring to see what would happen!
Finally, the last investigation was making a balloon scream! The children put a hex nut into a balloon and spun the balloon to make the scream!
Yesterday Class 2 visited the Cilfynydd water treatment site near Pontypridd in South Wales.
It was a long journey but the children were amazing for the whole bus ride! We went through stunning scenery on our way down, travelling through the Brecon Beacons and passing Pen Y Fan.
When we arrived, we were stopped by a huge gate and had to wait for it to be opened to allow us in. There were big fences everywhere, with barbed wire on the top, and we were all wondering where on earth Miss Clarke had taken us! This nervous feeling soon went when we met our brilliant guide, Jo, who led us through some woods to an outdoor classroom which was beautifully painted! We had our first activity here, where the children had to sort objects into flushable and non-flushable items. The children did very well sorting the objects but we all thought flushable wipes would be fine to put down the toilet. We were wrong! Jo told us that they clump together in the pipes and cause huge blockages before they disintegrate. We also learnt to never pour fat and grease down the sink as these cause ‘fatbergs’ in the pipe. She told us that they had recently removed a ‘fatberg’ that weighed as much as 33 elephants!
After this, we had a tour of the water treatment site. Jo showed us the different stages of the water treatment process. We first looked at the water inlet where all the dirty water comes from houses. The children really enjoyed this part as it was like a game of I spy! You wouldn’t believe what people flush down their toilets!
Following this, we saw the other stages of the treatment process. The most amazing part was that the bacteria was killed by pumping lots of oxygen into the water! This made the brown water bubble, meaning the children gave it the nickname, Poopuzzi!
After the tour of the treatment site, we went down to the river side to do an investigation to see whether the river flowed fastest in the middle or on the side. We threw dog biscuits into the river and then timed their journey over a 5m distance. We discovered that the middle of the river flowed fastest and as a reward, we went for a paddle by the pebbles in the shallow part of the river.
In the afternoon, we did an experiment to show how water evaporates and condensates in the water cycle. Jo then asked the children to also think about why rain doesn’t taste salty seeing as the water evaporates from the sea. So, we added salt water to a bowl over a candle and waited to see what happened. Everyone was amazed when they saw the salt sitting at the bottom of the bowl after the water had evaporated!
We ended the day with a really fun game, where the children had to recreate the water cycle with a sponge, a tarpaulin and a bucket!
It was a fantastic trip and we all learnt a lot!
St. George's CE Academy
School Road, Clun,
Craven Arms,
Shropshire
SY7 8JQ
Tel: 01588 640229
E-mail: admin@clun.shropshire.sch.uk
