Bowker Vale Primary School

PGL 2018

Monday

We were very lucky with the traffic and had a nice, easy journey. When we got here, the weather that has been forecast for the week had already arrived - there was thick snow! Our rooms were ready, so we dropped our bags off before heading for lunch. It was pizza day! After lunch, we played some new games in the sports hall. Then it was time to quickly unpack. Some of us then went to play football, some wanted to see the horses and others played PGL games in the snow. After that, it was time for dinner and we had another delicious meal. All of us are eating well. The evening was spent playing ambush, which is like hide and seek in the dark. We had lots of fun and there were many funny moments. We then headed back to our rooms, ready to take on the activities that await us for the rest of the week.

Tuesday

Today has been a great day! The weather has changed all day from heavy snow blizzards to beautiful sunshine. This was what we have been waiting for - the start of our activities. Groups have completed different ones including climbing, giant swing, aeroball, vertical challenge, fencing and Jacob's Ladder. Climbing allowed us to conquer any fear of heights and learn new skills. Some of us managed to ring the bell at the top. Giant swing is exactly what its name suggests. Two people are pulled extremely high before they have to pull the rope and plummet down at great speed. Aeroball is like basketball on trampolines. It is highly energetic and great fun. Vertical challenge involves climbing a rope ladder, tyres, a climbing wall and netting to reach the top. A lot of us challenged ourselves on this one and made progress, getting as high as we could. Fencing allowed us to practice the art of sword fighting. It was extremely enjoyable to face each other in battle. Jacob's ladder is a huge rope ladder, using logs that get further apart the higher you go. Teamwork is essential to help each other get higher. This evening's activity was snapshot, which involved us being given different themes to re-enact as a group and take photos of using a tablet. It was made even more fun by the thick snow that we have got. We can't wait for tomorrow where we will be able to use the skills that we have learnt and challenge ourselves further.

Wednesday

Today has been a fantastic day. Our usual snow fell throughout the day, but that didn't stop us. Today we have done a variety of activities once more. Zip wire is where we take a leap of faith and fly off across the fields of Lincolnshire. Challenge course is an obstacle course with different challenges where we have to use our thinking and teamwork skills to overcome each task. High ropes is an obstacle course high up in the air. It takes a lot of bravery to complete the course, but a lot of us overcame any nerves to make it all the way around. Sensory trail is where we realise how important our eyes are. We are blindfolded and have to work together to make it around a course with lots of different challenges along the way. The weather affected our afternoon activities with the temperature dropping. It meant that we couldn't do any climbing activities. Therefore we had problem solving, which again developed our teamwork skills as we had to work together to complete problems that were set. Rifle shooting allowed us to practise our aim, whilst keeping a steady arm. It was lots of fun! Tonight, we had PGL sports night. This involved a variety of games such as crab football, ultimate frizbee, giant noughts and crosses and an Olympic fashion event. Finally, we had a special treat for Samira, who celebrated her eleventh birthday today. She received a birthday card, got to go to the front of the dinner queue and PGL let us all have a celebratory hot chocolate in the dining hall after our evening activity. We have also taken advantage of the huge amount of snow we have had, building snowmen, having fun in the snow and snow football! Everybody came back to the rooms, feeling happy and looking forward to tomorrow. 

Thursday

Today the weather meant that planned activities couldn't happen, but it didn't stop the fun. The smiles and laughter on all of the children was evident throughout the day. In the morning, we had the ultimate PGL sports extravaganza. We had to work in teams and played lots of games that we had never played before including tunnel dodgeball. It was challenging, but we soon got the hang of it. After lunch, we played Cluedo, but not as you know it. We had to find characters around the site, who then gave us challenges in order for them to reveal clues to us. This was even more fun because most of them involved the snow. We then headed to the sports hall to take on more challenges. This included making the longest line with clothes, shoes, humans and whatever else we could find. We then had to use cardboard to create a human robot (we put the cardboard on the instructors). They then had a robot war on space hoppers. It was very funny. This evening was one of the nights we had all been waiting for: disco night! There were some great shapes thrown and everyone had lots of fun. As you will probably know, we are coming home early tomorrow. We will keep you updated as to our estimated time of arrival through the website and text service. We are all tired after an amazing week, that has brought lots of memories and achievements. We can't wait to see our families tomorrow.