Leadership Likes: Miss Threadgold

This week, having said ‘au revoir’ to Year 6 on their residential and welcoming back Year 5 from Nettlecombe, I realised that this is actually the first time since I started at Croydon High in 2019 that we have been able to run our annual residential trips.

In Junior School, these trips are an important part of the learning experience we offer to our pupils. From immersing themselves in new cultures and trying new cuisines, to exploring fascinating museums and historically significant places, and pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. We run 3 residential trips in the Junior School, starting with Year 4 who go to Frylands for a 1 night stay. The focus for each of our residential trips is different and enables pupils to acquire skills and experiences in different areas, bringing learning to life. In Year 4, the focus is on outdoor and adventurous activities, such as high ropes and archery where resilience, courage and confidence are all required. In Year 5, the visit is linked to the study of rivers in Geography and in Year 6, the study of French culture.

I am sure we can all recall our first residential school trips; I can certainly recall mine! I can vividly remember the excitement of sharing a room with all of my friends and arguing over who would get to sleep on the top bunk! Then of course,  the whole class having to write 100 ways to get to sleep after our noisy dormitory woke the teacher in the middle of the night! I know our pupils would never dream of disturbing a teacher’s sleep!

Research shows that trips outside of the traditional classroom can allow children to develop a greater sense of independence. This is especially true for residential trips where children have to organise their own belongings, manage their time and take responsibility for ensuring they have everything they need. I spoke to some of our Year 5’s who shared first hand what their experience was like. For many of them, it was their first time staying away from home and I know that Mrs Bower, Mr Wilks and the rest of the team were incredibly proud of how well they coped throughout the week.

It is clear that the girls all took the opportunity to further develop key life skills; handling money, managing time, navigating the outdoors, and becoming more independent. As our school motto says….. “Every girl, every day.  Discover more.”

Last week, Year 5 went to Nettlecombe Court in Somerset. I was very excited and I am sure everyone else was too! After our 4 and a half drive, we finally reached our destination and we were greeted by two women who were named Analma and Grace. We were told who our roommates were for the week and to go up to our rooms. On our amazing week, we went rockpooling, went on a trek, had a campfire, did a riverwalk, we went on a train, we did orienteering, we went to Dunster castle and we went shopping in Dunster. I think we have learnt a lot about how to manage our money when we went shopping. We have also learnt how to keep time, and I think the most important is how to look after ourselves. On Thursday night, the teachers came round to see our rooms and pick which room was the tidiest, calmest and lots more categories. At the end of our mini adventure, everyone was very tired and we could not wait to tell our parents about all the fun we had during our week at Nettlecombe Court. Finally a massive thank you to Mr Wilks, Mrs Bower, Mrs Redmond and Miss Watkins for looking after us!

Zaynab K

Last week, Year 5 were very excited to go to somewhere called Nettlecombe Court in Somerset. We all got on the coach and everyone was tingling with excitement. The coach journey took around 4 hours and we finally reached Nettlecombe we got told our dorms and who we would be with and we took our suitcases up to the dormitories. After that we were ready to start our upcoming week in Nettlecombe. During Nettlecombe we did plenty of  incredible things such as orienteering, a campfire and rockpooling which was very interesting as we found lots of different creatures like crabs and limpets. We did mammal trapping which was extremely fun plus it didn’t harm the mammals it in fact helped them as we put food and a bed of hay for them. Finally we did something that I am sure everyone was excited about and that was going to Dunster. We did all sorts of things in Dunster. We went shopping, we visited Dunster Castle and we got ice creams as a treat for how good we had been. On the last night the teachers were doing prizes for things like the tidiest rooms, the calmest rooms, the room with the best teamwork. By the end of Nettlecombe every one was pretty tired but I think it’s safe to say that every single person in Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Last of all I want to say a big thank you to all the teachers helping out. Thank you so much Mr Wilks, Mrs Bower, Miss Watkins and Mrs Redmond.

Poppy F

Miss Laura Threadgold

Deputy Head of Junior School