There are too many to report here, but they included overseas trips, educational visits to every corner of England (and Scotland), expeditions such as Duke of Edinburgh, Rua Fiola and the Cranedale geography field trip, as well as adventure challenges in the Peak District.
The idea behind these wealth of trips is to provide Westbourne boys and girls with an unparalleled range of opportunities, to broaden horizons and instill the spirit of adventure and exploration, both physically and mentally. Westbourne is about raising expectations and aspirations. Here are just a few personal reports from the students themselves.
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SENIOR SCHOOL
In June we went to Buxton World Adventure Centre. The centre was in the middle of a field. When we
got there, we were split up into three teams. The aim of the day was to learn about leadership and
how to work as a team.
Each team had an instructor. We then split up and went into the woods where different challenges had been set up. Although the weather was not good (cold and rainy) we still enjoyed ourselves.
The challenges were very active and got everyone involved. The challenges ranged from crawling through a network of criss-crossed ropes and trying not to touch them, to climbing up a 25ft pole and taking a “leap of faith” from it, seeing if you could grab on to a trapeze.
By successfully completing the challenge, you got a piece of an artefact. When you had all the pieces, you could use them to translate a message written in cryptic symbols. I think everyone liked the challenges as they were either a good laugh, or very scary. If it was the latter, when you had completed the task, you felt extremely proud of yourself. The whole day was character building.
The instructors were very friendly and understanding. If you were scared to do something, they wouldn’t make you. They were very conscientious of our safety, ensuring that helmets and harnesses were on correctly. Everyone enjoyed themselves even if they got scared, soaked or did not manage all the tasks. We came home wet, cold and grinning like lunatics.
JUNIOR SCHOOL
On Wednesday we went to the Chestnut Centre. First we saw guinea pigs, a rabbit and a little owl.
Next we saw a snowy owl then a South American horned owl who nodded when we came. After that we saw an
otter enclosure. The otters were asleep because they were nocturnal. Then I had my picture taken with Fin,
Toby and James sitting on some wooden stools. Afterwards we saw a Canadian otter marking its territory.
Then we saw a giant otter! It was chasing its tail. Right after that we saw some deer and some mole hills.
Then we had lunch. After we had eaten lunch, half of us went to the gift shop I got a rabbit stuffed toy
and Luke got some owl and hedgehog stuffed toys.
We went to Forest School in the Sheffield Winter Gardens for an afternoon to experience what it was like to be able to play and learn in the outdoors, safely like our grandparents used to.
The Forest Rangers showed us how to make signs out of natural things to leave a message and how to make a flute from a branch of wood.
The middle of the sign was made from canvas which we painted and drew a message on. We made a frame for this by bending some bamboo and binding it together with string into a circle. We used willow tree, rope and feathers. some of our banners showed the way home or warned of danger.
To make the flutes we learned how to use a saw and knife safely. We stripped the bark and hollowed out the centre of a stick with a large screw. The willow was very moist in the middle.
We also met the Lord Mayor who thought we were very smart and that we asked good questions.