Grade 6 Baynesfield trip: January 2012

Mr Brad Roets writes: “On Wednesday the 25th of January, the Grade 6’s left on their annual team-building trip to the Baynesfield estate. Once again, it was an extremely successful trip where the children learnt about San culture from two very knowledgeable Bushmen, Petrus and Johannes and were made aware of the more mature approach that is needed in Grade 6. Groups were decided upon by the instructors and the first lot of activities were under way immediately after lunch. These activities included, among others, the assault course; the zip-line, which is always a spectacle watching the timid; and fire-making, Bushman style! A night walk after supper sent everyone tumbling into bed. The second day saw a continuation of the events from the previous day, with groups completing all of the tasks. A hike to the larger dam over the hill was rewarded by a long, cooling swim in the dam before the trek back to camp. In the evening, the children were enthralled and tested by the various imitations of common animals, in dance, by the Bushmen.

Fishing on the banks of the dam passed the time in between organised activities, along with swimming off of the jetty. On the final morning, the children presented short skits for their instructors about their time at Baynesfield…some of which contained something about that big bass that got away! A fantastic time was had by all.”

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Grade 4 Camp

As the sun rose after a fun night camping at Clifton, groups of Robin Hood‟s “merry men” disappeared into Top Woods to hunt for hidden treasure.
Friar Tuck was found hidden away in a secluded part of the forest (with his notorious bottle under his arm!) but to great disappointment after following all clues, there was no sign of the treasure…
At one stage during the morning, a group of children came breathlessly down the hill to inform us that the treasure was… Friendship & Teamwork! What a deep thinking bunch we have. Out of the mouths of babes, pearls of wisdom.
We assured them that in addition to these treasures they would discover a casket filled with goodies.
Seven hours later, after a lot of perseverance and determination, the treasure was discovered by one of the teams. Kate Turner, Daniel Jonsson, Tzar Bowmaker-Wood, Kate Segar, Ross Leslie and Vuyo Zungu were delighted with their booty!

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In Grade Four we go FARMING!

We have great fun learning about life; maths; language; personal and interpersonal skills and teamwork through engaging the soil.  Being a country school, the children are encouraged to spend time out of doors interacting with their environment. In this way we bring the outside into our classroom and have found that motivation to learn is high as a result.

Many of the pupils have a kinesthetic learning style and thrive with the active engagement in the learning process.  We learn about inputs and outputs; conventional and organic farming; vegetable farming; measuring; mass and finally making money! The Farmers market day is a highlight of our school calendar where our budding entrepreneurs set up shop and proudly sell the produce they have produced and made.

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Grade Seven Hike

Mr Shaw writes: “On Friday the 20th January, 39 Grade Seven‟s and their tutors donned hiking shoes and a pack and headed off towards Mount West. The route took the children through Nottingham Road, with a quick stop at Notties Hotel … for a photo… and on to Fordoun. With the sun making a stronger appearance at this stage, a swim in one of the many dams was appreciated. What should have then been a short easy amble across some farm land towards the culvert under the N3, turned into a far longer and demanding exercise. The recent rains had created a chest deep swamp resulting in some members of the group (staff included)

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Grade 5 trip to Spirit of Adventure

Mrs Angie Horne writes: “After a very long trip down to Shongweni, we all jumped out of the busses and quickly melted onto the tar. The heat was excruciating but didn‟t dampen the adventurous spirits of the forty- seven excited children. They were broken into four different groups and were given a number of ice breaking activities to do in order to get to know both their instructor and their fellow team mates.
Following this was an early lunch which gave everyone the energy to courageously attempt the two planned activities: rafting and rock climbing. The evening saw the groups chopping, dicing and peeling as they had to cook their own dinner - chicken potjie. After supper, the evening progressed with a walk down to the dam and a survival task which included making a fire, cooking an egg and making a „hurricane proof‟ shelter. It is amazing what useful goodies you can find lying in the bush!
The following morning was an incredibly early start (much to our dismay). However, with all the activities that were packed into the day, all the daylight hours were needed. Kayaking, playing on „Treasure Beach”, orienteering and completing the Snake Pit (which entailed crawling through underground tunnels) took up the day. Once again, the groups made their own dinners; macaroni and mince which was finished in no time. After-supper-time was taken up by the madness of mini-olympics.
The great abseil down the dam wall was scheduled for the last morning. As many of the children had abseiled the wall before, bravado and confidence was much in evidence; until they saw the height from which they were due to abseil! Most of the children flew down after initial trepidation and even some of the teachers joined in.
A big thanks to Rory Smith, Jeremy Wallace and Elvis Kalika for making the various trips to drop off and pick up.”

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