Day 3

We've had another great day full of adventures!  We went on a walk into Criel Sur Mer, we loved all the different styles of houses and shops we were so busy looking around that Emily forgot to look where she was going and managed to walk into a lamp post! Luckily Emily was ok and managed to just about finish off her cake! We went to the local shop and the post office to buy postcards and stamps, we've written them and tomorrow at the market we will post them.  I'm sure we'll be back before they are! 

We visited a local patissiere where we tried to use our best French to ask for a cake.  We tried really hard and choose some simply amazing cakes.  Check out the pictures! We have to admit that some of us were beaten by the monster cakes but Dominic was determined he was not going to be beaten!

We headed off to the Cider farm where we met Susan who told us all about her apple orchard and explained how she makes cider, cider vinegar and brandy using a traditional method. Then we had a refreshing drink of apple juice before we walked back to the Chateau.

After lunch we went to our activities; we took part in fencing and archery.  We had loads of fun and learnt many new skills. Following our activities we went for a walk to the adventure playground.  We had a fanatstic time challenging each other and ourselves to go round as many times as possible.  Maddie and Luke were going for the record!

The beach was our next destination.  We collected pebbles and shells, made pictures in the sand and tried to skim stones into the sea. It was great fun, no sun burn for Mrs Nicholls and Mr Mitchell this year!

To end day three we dressed up in our French costumes and tried snails and frogs legs. We then danced the night away and strutted our stuff on the dance floor.  Alexsander A was amazing us with his dancing moves!

From England to France!

mardi le vingt-huit fevrier

Bonjour, glad you're having a good time and hope you have a good week.

We have done lots of exciting things including using oil pastel in art, filming each other doing a weather report and designing our own french flags!

We have been learning french words too; rose, marron, noir, vert, jaune, bleu and rouge, mademoiselle, merci and au-revoir.

Where are you off to tomorrow?

Missing you all, we are having a outstanding time!

Zack, Katie, Adam, Paige, Maddison, Josh and Miss Pearce x

Day 2

Another very busy day in France!  We set off early and headed to Arras. We went to the Wellington Quarry; battle of Arras memorial from World War 1. Here we ventured 20 metres underground into the chalk quarries of Arras.  This we learnt was the site where during WW1 the allies prepared a diversion attack on the Germans.  We learnt how the New Zealand tunnellers were in charge of linking up the quarries to create a true underground network where 24, 000 soldiers could be quartered, waiting for the surprise attack.

After going down 20 metres deep in a glass lift our tour showed us the living quarters, litrines, general's office and even bunk beds.  The quarry named Wellington by the New Zealander's preserves the memory of these thousands of soldiers a few metres from the front line, before their surprise attack on the Germans. We all found it fascinating, what an experience!

From there we went on to Vimy Ridge, this is where we saw the most amazing memorial to the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives during the first world war.  We learnt how Hitler fought in the battle to free Vimy Ridge and vowed during WWII that the Germans would respect the memorial during the war.  11,285 names of Canadian soldiers are engraved on the memorial.  We were very interested to find many of our surnames on the plaque!

Then we set off to the trenches. WOW! They were so interesting we got to walk in both the Allies and the German trenches.  We couldn't believe how close together they were.  We learnt about no mans land and saw the craters left behind from the shelling during the fighting.  We were able to identify many differences between the designs of the trenches.

Such a busy day! Very interesting to learn about WWI it raised many issues and questions relating to our work on WWII.
We ended our day with a mini olympics.  What fun! Bridges and roundabouts was a firm favourite although when we get home mums and dads might not agree (we got a bit muddy!)

Bonjour Year 5 have arrived in France!

Day 1
At 6 o'clock this morning year 5 left Shavington.  There were a few tears, lots of luggage (mostly Mrs Nicholls!), mountains of food and lots of laughter!

We had quite a long journey down to Dover but we kept ourselves entertained by playing games and eating lots of very healthy treats!  When we saw the famous white cliffs of Dover we burst into song, well Nicole and Mr Mitchell lead the way!

We boarded the ferry and had a very smooth crossing. Unfortunately the weather was a bit foggy but we were still able to get some photos waving goodbye to England.

When we arrived in Calais we visited Nausica's aquarium.  We had a whistle stop tour but saw beautiful creatures.  The octopus was amazing! We then travelled on to the chateau where dinner was served. 

We are all very tired from our adventures on day one but very excited about tomorrow.

Love to all 5N x

Pancake Day

Tuesday was our pancake race day, everyone limbered up for the race of the year!  With frying pans in hand and a rather cold unappetising pancake in the pan, each class ran in heats, flipping their pancakes along the course.  Finals were then imminent and the winners were:

Reception:  Jacob Mellor
Year 1:       Mia Watts
Year 2:       Adele Jones
Year 3:       Harry Rowe
Year 4:       Milan Diao
Year 5:       Ben Williams
Year 6:       Alex Peake

Overall winner was Milan Diao.

Congratulations to Mr Pennington who won the teacher's race and took the crown from Mrs Windas!

Tanzania - The Finished Trim Trail!

What an incredible week! The children of Mikumi Town Primary School have been trully inspirational in designing and creating their own Trim Trail. I can assure you they are immensely proud of what they have achieved and the skills they displayed were quite unbelievable.

Our final day in School was without doubt our favourite. After an assembly filled with singing and dancing we worked with the playtime prefects. Soon the Nursery class arrived (86 children!) and the Prefects guided the younger children in using the course safely and taking turns. Throughout the day more and more children gravitated towards the Trim Trail and we were able to step back and watch the Prefects manage the course superbly. 

We also found the time to pop to the local "metal man" who created 2 hoops for us. These were combined with 2 spare Trim Trail logs resulting in new netball posts. A fine display of balance, athletisism and fitness followed as Mrs Penhall and I took part in netball and football matches respectively. After a considerable amount of heavy breathing, perspiration and hands on knees, the 2 minute warm up was finally over! Clearly, we were both surprised to end up on losing teams!

Singing, dancing and speeches followed to draw an end to a week that we shall never forget. 

Please enjoy the photo's below, showing the incredible skills of the Mikumi Town children and our finished Trail. Feel free to find us and ask us anything about our Tanzanian adventure.