The Blogging Zone

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

Action continues and thank heavens they were tired afterthe disco last night and so went to sleep nearly and slept. As usual there was a lot of primping, preening and parading prior to the disco. The hairdressing salon was resurrected. Katie, Gemma and Lauren availed themselves of our services: Katie was distinctly underwhelmed by my talents... I suspect I wasn't very skilful or sympathetic untangling knots in very long hair. In my defence I don't get a lot of practice. Tyler C needed his 'bling' expertly repaired by Mr. Fyfe's teeth! Alex a.k.a. the Vampire, is now regarded in a new light having leapt off stage during the disco, landing on Bradley, leaving a couple of small tooth marks in his forehead. Don't worry Mrs Ford his good looks are still undamaged!!!
Severalgroups have now done caving, unfortunately, with all the rain the floor of the main room is under 6" of water...cold, muddy water.Niamh, Jess and Emily H all conquered fears of claustrophobia and were rewarded with an enactment of how soldiers would have slept in the cave in World War II. They would have had to sleep back to back, a light sleeper paired with a heavy one, and when the attack sounded the light sleepers would leap up, leaving the heavy sleepers ie. Mrs B and Sam flat on their backs in ... cold, muddy water! Lewis and Finn have shown themselves to be Mastermind experts, their specialist subjects being World War II military tactics and Victorian mining. Rachel was dared by her group leader to lie back in the water, which she did, and then was double dared to roll onto her front. She was a right sight after that. Talking of sights Thomas U's hair was like a bird's nest first thing this morning andf then like spaghetti this afternoon after a heavy rain shower. Mason continues to maintain his impeccable hairstyle whatever the weather.
Rachel's other classic moment came after she'd climbed to the top of the tower. As she abseiled down, she lost her footing, ended up dangling upside down and then did a 360 to right herself!
Maddie, Katie, Ruby and Emilee got rid of some latent aggression in fencing as they took great delight in slapping their opponent's around the head masks with their gauntlets to challenge them. However, they were pretty pathetic when they first started fighting (Ruby apologising to her opponent for hitting her!), the boys, needless to say, showed no such inhibitions.
Mrs C has just come in to tell us her group were just asked to tell the leader if they has worn helmets before they all said yes and when asked wher chorused,"On our heads!"

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Over the past 10 years if you could identify one defining moment what would that be?

With Hurricane Katrina in mind, den building skills have been exercised this morning, although judging by the results some children lack key scientific concepts: Katie piled tyres higgledy piggeldy on top of each other , stuck a very thick bamboo pole inside, draped a rope around the outside and expected it to support a structure. Meanwhile underneath the tarpaulin Emillie sat on a tyre clinging on for dear life to the central pole, having previously tried to make it more stable by adding a few handfuls of needles around the bottom! Maddie has abandoned the Noise Abatement Society and has now joined the tree huggers in her efforts to secure ropes around trees; whilst Jess and Niamh seemed more clued up on scientific principles and quietly went around making the necessary adjustments. Amazingly in the end it did stand unsupported. The boys in my group (Tom U, Elliot, Sam, Callum F, Alex)meanwhile rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in creating tyre entrances, walls and their den boasted an HD ready tv 'allegedly', balcony, kitchen and garden! Surprisingly they later admitted they had had no one leader but had all chipped in, listened to each other (wonders will never cease), and got stuck in. My favourite memory was when they finished a little earlier than the girls and came to raid spare poles, Elliot brandished a pole with Tom backing him up, Maddie took one look, assessed the situation picked up a longer pole, swung it, knocked Elliot's, he fell spreadeagled in the dirt and Upson took to his heels. No contest!
Next they moved onto Team Challenge and really impressed the Geordie leader with their communication, listening skills and willingness to contribute to the team effort. Niamh gave the leader heart failure as she interpreted go down through the tyre and to do so head first! Luckily we managed to stop her before she completed the manoeuvre and suggested feet first was a better option. The group now have a saying, 'Don't do a Niamh'! Maddie wriggled and squealed her way through tyres, only just managing to hold onto her trousers; Alex has the record for the fastest crossing of the very wobbly bridge. He was in his element on the quad bikes and after a few false starts and dodgy moments claimed another speed record.
10:45am Harry photographed with definite grubby areas on his previously pristine waterproofs, following Team Challenge.
The food has gone down well: sausages for breakfast, meatballs for lunch. We've learned to put Callum Le P at the front of the queue because he fills his plate well but takes his time eating.
Callum F is definitely King of Aeroball, he has a kind of Cool Hand Luke style but is a deadly shot.

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Over the past 10 years if you could identify one defining moment what would that be?

Miss Conchar wasn't firing on all cylinders as we were chatting waiting for the kids to fall asleep last night, so whilst the rest of us knew what Mr Fyfe was talking about when he showed us the scar on his knee, she thought he said 'cruise ship' so he now has a 'cruise ship' scar rather than a cruciate! Everyone up and cheerful this morning. Earliest were Alex, Tom U, Finn, Lewis, Bradley and Sam so Mr Fyfe didn't get his full allocation of beauty sleep.... would it have made any difference I ask?? Aimee definitely wins the prize for the night time ensemble: cow pyjamas and matching dressing gown; mind you she was run a close second by Gemma Tingay who's equally into leopard prints. Palfrey was on spider patrol above and below bunks. One or two girls experimented with two in a bunk, rattling doors were subdued with bits of card; Maddie stood on the top bunk and glued her ear to the ceiling 'allegedly' to monitor banging from the boys' room above, she's now been voted in as leader of the Noise Abatement Society. Hollie apparently talks in her sleep and obviously her alter ego surfaces as she's reported dropping the odd swear word, so teachers have been banned from 'drop ins' during the night. She's a right sight first thing in the morning: she's up and mobile for a good five minutes before her eyes crack open a millimetre, five minutes later they are half open... you get the picture. Elise meanwhile was the first asleep in her dorm and slept so heavily that she woke this morning and called out, 'Is anyone awake?' to receive a chorus of, 'Everyone but you!' One of their night time routines is 'The Flying Pig'! Rachel was talking in her sleep and said, 'Yes, that's alright. OK.' We've had fun trying to guess the original question! Tom T gets the prize for originality and organisaton as he managed to cram all the boys into a 2 man room. Mr Fyfe has a picture to prove it. Meanwhile Harry is an incurable optimist as he announced at 7:45am, 'I am not going to get dirty on that assault course.' Watch this space.

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Over the past 10 years if you could identify one defining moment what would that be?

We've arrived without losing any bags or throttling any kids! Result! Too be fair the teamwork sessions we had at the start of term seem to have paid off and the movement about the airports and onto the coach went like clockwork. On the coach Miss H was kept under control by Tyler C , Brooklyn and Jacob who kept her occupied going through the alphabet with the names of footballers. It was raining as we arrived but we had a fantastic surprise as we were greeted at the gates by an ex-pupil, Gemma Tingay, who has been working in the firm for over a year and recently was promoted into the adminisration here. She's promised to join us for a couple of activities even though she's not a team leader. Children have been learning new skills: Harry: how to find a waterproof that he swears he hadn't brought; Rachel, how to actually unpack a suitcase rather than abandon it in the middle of the room; Jess: how to change whilst being interrupted by one teacher after another (there's now a notice on their dorm door saying 'Please knock'; and many of them how to put a duvet inside a cover. Even though it was raning before supper we sent the boys out with a ball to run off excess energy... no they didn't kick it into Mrs Fox's garden but with unerring skill into another area they weren't allowed into! Supper's gone down well: roast chicken, beef, yorkshire pudding and doughnuts. Sadly Anna had to have chicken, as the other option was beef - but as she only likes beef medium rare and she doesn't know what medium rare beef looks like, she couldn't chance it!! They're now at a movie and we are otherwise engaged...refreshing ourselves! More tomorrow. Memo to Mr Hamilton: your sweetcorn rocks. Merci beaucoup.

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Last Day

The disco last night meant that the dorms and bathrooms were perfumed out..the parfum de Lynx knocked you back as you entered the boys rooms. The girls were primping and posing for cameras as if they were auditioning for Kingswood's next top model! However, anyone who thought they looked gorgeous last night should have had a morning after shot as we went in to wake them this morning ... anything but glam. Everyone said that they were finding it harder and harder to wake up and get out of bed, even opening his eyes was a major task for Ewan CS. To add insult to injury, two groups started the morning with problem solving. It went a whole lot quicker once there was a speaking instrument and no one could talk unless they were holding it! Several people discovered that they were anything but naturals on a quad bike and many seemed to find a magical attraction to the barriers. However, Ben LT showed them how it was done covering nearly every inch of the track.

Jaz enjoyed the zip wire, he screamed all the way down but then managed to get so tangled up on his safety wire that he couldn't release himself and had to be winched back.

Faith

All three groups have had the Leap of Faith today. We never cease to be amazed at the children's courage, determination and ...faith. It really does bring a lump to your throat to see their pale faces, jelly legs and huge sighs of relief or tears as they descend on the rope having achieved it. Lily said she thought her lunch was going to come up and she was going to eat her pasta twice. Whilst a very white faced Ewan R was still experiencing the adrenalin surging around his body. The Leap of Faith is not about completion but about reaching and surpassing personal goals and Rebecca, Kit and Jaz who were adamant that they were not going to do it actually got to stage 2.

Low ropes were great fun and everyone worked well as a team. Den building was interesting with such unexpected roles as raiders and defenders being invented. Charis was eagled eyed defender repulsing attacks from Jordan, Bradley and Tian. Meanwhile Josh's face was getting  dirtier and dirtier as he directed operations ably assisted by Oliver and Ben Le T. Caitlin discovered one of the heavy logs had a sharpened point and became more interested in trying to write in the dirt. James Christian, aka the monkey - so named by Mr Fyfe because every time he goes into his dorm James is either leaping from bunk to bunk or swinging from one of them - collected as many pine cones as he could and then arranged them in the shape of PL to represent Pinecone Lodge.

Thrills and Spills

The scene last night in the hallway between the two girls' dorms was proof that the teachers will go to any lengths to make sure your children are happy and well looked after. Picture this: Summer with a huge towel wrapped around her heading back to her dorm with long hair dripping. Teachers spring into action: Mrs H produces a hairdryer and dries her hair whilst MrsJ brushes it. It takes a long time so a second hairdryer is plugged in and Summer stands in the middle between Mrs J and Mrs C armed with brushes and a hairdryer each. Not to be outdone Mrs H is given my hairdryer and starts on Tilly and so a salon is set up, processing Caitlin, Miriam and Chantelle in turn. I was assigned the role of official photographer since obviously when it comes to long hair I have no expertise! On the subject of hair Elliote tracked back and forwards to the showers this morning several times but her hair looked no better styled each time. We were informed she was on a Bananarama  day today. She could have saved herself the trouble, the wind could have made that mess effortlessly. Actually it's fascinating how many random, aimless trips they make backwards and forwards to the bathroom in the morning carrying a hairbrush, apparently absolutely for no reason, just playing follow my leader as far as I am concerned. Elliote, Robyn, Annaliese, Elise and Liberty love this game and do it as if they are on the catwalk.

Liberty, aka Patricia, never thought she would do the leap of Faith but amazed herself by succeeding. And trust me it's windy today, and those telephone poles may seem substantial but they don't half move at the top!!

Nightline produced the usual freak weather conditions over Kingswood: absolute downpours on unprotected heads which also soaked the ground making it a mudbath. Unfortunately this meant that children were forced to crawl on their bellies through an assault course, across muddy, gritty ground. Water spouts mysteriously spurted down the back of people's necks, their trousers, and in their shoes. Weird breezes funneled into their ears. Squirrels must have been playing in the trees because half eaten pine cones kept raining down on them. Needless to say Mrs J and I were blamed for these freak conditions but even criminals are innocent until proven guilty!

Tian and I burned rubber around the go kart track. He roared around just on the edge of controlshowing impressive footwork on the pedals watched by an admiring audience of new Kingswood trainees. Jordan didn't even complete the first lap before making an aquaintance with the barrier but quickly improved. Miriam and Lily muttered darkly about the heavy steering: obviously they prefer power steering!

Still on the go!

All the kids had a great time in lazer tag, especially the biggest of them all.... Mr Fyfe! Afterwards the group admitted that they really enjoyed shooting him. In the end there was a shoot out between Bradley and Rhys with the latter claiming victory.

Jack T has amazed everyone with the depth of his knowledge about World War II in the end the instructors had to beg him to let someone else get a word in edgeways! A couple of children were very apprehensive caving this afternoon: Fraser said he didn't like confined spaces, but afterwards said it was his favourite activity so far... even the bits he didn't like. Summer really struggled but trusted Mrs H and the instructors and managed to get down, later she turned out to be the person who didn't panic when the lights went out. Later on she told Mrs Hutchison that she never thought she would do it and she was so glad she had.

In aeroball despite everyone else's best attempts, no one could shift Ewan C S and Ben B, Mrs C hopes all the bouncing will have worn them out. Summer, Kerry and Kirsty decided they were Charlie's Angels in lazer quest but in the end it was divide and conquer and Kirsty was the last one ...standing! (okay not a very funny joke but my energy levels are running low!) Mrs C had a stalker: Lucie B who targetted her every time she entered the room. Summer lost her sense of direction and walked into a wall but was very brave.

We've all been impressed with the children's politeness and consideration and support for others. Ben B, Ben Le T, Oliver, Josh, Robin S in particular have been smashing. Calumn B deserves a mention for the most enthusiastic responses when the leaders teach them the shout at the beginning of activities.

Today has been full on and they are all hot, sweaty, pretty dirty and very tired! Hooray. Another quiet night.

Eating My Words

For the first time since I've been coming no one had any problems with homesickness last night and even more amazingly they settled pretty quickly and slept well. Bacon for breakfast was appreciated and wolfed down: Fraser, Joe and Dylan are taking advantage of the opportunity to return for seconds at mealtimes.

Just before first activity there was an unexpected fire drill courtesy of the school above us in the dorms. Definitely a black mark for them. Caving was first up for my group with a very extrovert instructor called Alex who treated us to a range of impressions including ET. The kids had to do the 'guillibility' test and you will be pleased to know they all passed with flying colours! Rebecca and Charis were a little apprehensive but were prepared to have a go and were very confident by the end. Rebecca remarked afterwards that what she'd learnt was that facing a challenge is hard but if you stick at it you can do it. Robin S learnt that before volunteering next time she's going to check what she's letting herself in for. She and Lily volunteered to act as soldiers and without giving too much away Robin ended up flat on her back in muddy water. After the pledge Ben Le T, Josh and Oliver came out with very muddy faces.

Stars in Archery were Joel and Joe so they are leading Hutchison's merry men. Jack M also seemed at home with a bow in his hand. Whilst that group was bouldering Jaz was really supportive in encouraging Joe who didn't seem to have the same talent on the bouldering wall. Jaz also thoughtfully got everyone on his table a drink at lunchtime. I wonder if he does that at home??? Joel streaked to the top of the climbing wall and obviously has a head for heights.

Orienteering is not one ofthe most exciting activities but my group went round and round in circles quite happily and were soon seeing dots before the eyes as they tried (occasionally unsuccessfully) to copy the dominoes they saw on signs, onto a piece of paper. Lesson from that was more hast less speed and Jordan regretted having little legs which he said were tired, until I told him he could rest them and not do laser tag. Then he showed miraculous powers of recovery. His hat is the envy of all the instructors who think it is so cool.

All present and correct

Flight was a little bumpy particularly as we were landing but no one was sick. Summer was landed with the short straw: sitting next to me, and because of conditions was only allowed to switch her iPod on for a short time, however, she was very good company. The flight attendants complimented us on the children and said they were the best school they had carried. Annaliese was reunited with the bag she'd left behind on the plane!

Movement through Stanstedt was surprisingly swift and we were soon on the coach. Those who had a history of travel sickness were asked to sit up front near the staff, something I regretted bitterly as neiher Ewan R nor Robin S seemed to be suffering behind me and gave me earache with their continuous stream of jokes, songs etc. I have muttered darkly about 'She who laughs last laughs longest,' and have plans for a very wet Nightline for the pair of them.

We made good time and arrived about half past four. We had sausages and apple crumble for supper, Kirsty managed to melt her pat of butter under her sausage so smeared it on her bread as she made a very messy egg sandwich. I managed to get landed with Robyn, Robin Ewan R and Miriam, so my ears were subjected to yet another battery while Dylan sat peacefully on the next table. Note to self, sit next to him next time.

Jack M waltzed behind me back to the dorms telling me how brilliant he was. That didn't last long... we've decided he's going to have to marry because he's the world's worst bed maker!! Meanwhile Tian got stuck in and was sorted in half the time and seems relaxed and ready for action. Caving's up first after breakfast.

They all still seem full of beans, so I think it could be a long night!