Winter Wonderland

Staff and instructors alike are really enjoying the company of Primary Six pupils who are a credit to their families and to the school.

Monday night's moonlit, misty nightwalk was memorably atmospheric and Jamie Stark was really helpful in calling out clear instructions to the people behind. Tuesday and Wednesday have brought clear blue skies, sunshine and powdery snow. Ideal.

Tuesday morning found Group 3 - Gaius, Lachlan, Philipp, Thomas, Jamie, Tara, Alice, Mairi Smith and Lorna Hinton -on a forest walk with their instructor Debbie and Ms Gallagher. Lorna and Gaius enjoyed cracking the thick ice in a stream and Gaius also liked stopping for hot chocolate at a specatcular viewpoint. Tara enjoyed looking down at the canoeists on a perfectly still loch and swapping sweets. Lachlan had fun doing roly polys in the snow. Thomas liked following the same nightline that secondary school pupils use but was glad that we did it in daylight. Alice and Mairi picked huge icicles and Philipp enjoyed climbing the hill and playing in the snow.

On Tuesday afternoon Ms Gallagher loved going gorge walking with Group 6 - Jordy , Will, Bhuvan, Sam, Eilidh, Mia, Lily, Isla, Helen and Elena- and was very impressed with their team work and 'have a go' attitude. Everyone in the group climbed through the 'keyhole' (a rock formation with a waterfall) and also all did the 'loony slide' at the end. Will was first through and Eilidh really enjoyed sliding down the river. Bhuvan wasn't sure he would make it through the 'keyhole' but did it with ease. Billy loved getting wet and Lily got soaked when she slipped off the balance log. Jordy was steady on his feet and enjoyed makng Elvis noises on the way up. Mia used the rope confidently to climb up the steepest part of the gorge and stayed dry until the slide. Helen had an unusual choice of gorge walking attire in the purple dress coat we discovered she was wearing underneath her Benmore waterproofs. Elena and Isla toppled on the blance log but managed to keep one foot dry each. Sam got very wet in the plunge pool at the bottom of the slide. Hot showers, tea and cake soon warmed everyone up.

Clare's elegant climbing and skilled abseiling techniques on a very steep, sheer cliff face have been much admired by her instructor. Erin also particularly enjoyed climbing and abseiling and said it was "really, really, really fun." James likes his instructor, Steven, because he is very funny and has organised snowball ambushes. Cara liked the hot chocolate Steven gave Group 8 - Cara, James, Philip, Sean, Wenbo, Daniel, John, Eva, Amy G and Katy- on the forest walk. Daniel woke up to blue skies and birthday cards this Wednesday morning. We're all delighted because we'll have tea and birthday cake at 5 o'clock.



Group 5 - Billy, Harris, Navid, Moses, Louis, Fergus P, Anna Greco, Rosie, Lauren and Hannah Davis got a tour of Benmore with their instructor Rob when they arrived and all that homework preparation paid off when it came to bed making. Fergus thinks Rob is really cool. Thea is also working with Group 5 and she organised an exciting evening activity outdoors for each class. PC Neil Sinclair and Ms Christie were on duty out in the cold for ages but were wrapped up well and are very good sports. Mrs Noble manned the tuck shop and many souvenirs and postcards will be winging their way homewards by the end of the week.

Amy Gorman and Katy were canoeing and at the end they got to to go on the ice and Katy got soaked. John thought the forest walk was great fun and enjoyed clambering through wet tunnels. Anis was biking and held her bike still for a ten second balance challenge in the forest. Harris said the gorge walk was really icey and that made it more fun because it was slippy. Martin, Maciej and Oshioke built a snowman half way up the forest walk.

Callum Lennie really enjoyed abseiling with Mrs Noble and "walking backwards sideways". He is in Group 1 with Duncan, Kai, Ben JH, Natasha, Erin, Captiva and Edie. They have also been orienteering and are gorge walking and biking today with Ms Christie.

Mattie (in Group 2 with Vanya, Callum E, Lewis Ma, Anna Scally, Rosa, Sara J, Abbie, Rebecca and Clare) enjoyed making an igloo while he was waiting to abseil and afterwards got to smash it. Maddy B went on the forest walk and at the end she jumped in a waterfall and her wellies filled up with water.

Ellen was on the high ropes course and said it was fun but very scary. Mr Hewitt has taken some stunning photographs and used a special lens to take close ups of the 'leap of faith'. Ellen is in Group 7 with Jamie Scott, Santiago, Fergus C, Kartik, Caitlin H, Rose, Holly, Amy M and Richi and today they are going to be caving and climbing and abseiling. Busy Wednesday!

Rosie liked getting stuck in the mud and puddles on her bike. Leona got very cold jumping in waterfalls on the forest walk but really liked it and also enjoyed taking her bike round an obstacle course in the woods. Rebecca shines at map reading in orienteering and Eilidh had the quickest time in her group's orienteering session. Louis had four lives on the gorge walk and only lost two. He was partnered with Moses. Navid was also gorge walking and got soaked when he slipped off a log.

Maddy Kay went 'skating' on a frozen pond. She is in Group 4 with Cameron, Matthew, Callum H, Tom, Mairi T, Caitlin S, Amy W,Jessica and Ben P. They got the chance to go caneoing with Ms Christie and have been on the ropes course with Mr Howie. Today they are gorge walking with PC Sinclair and orienteering.

One of the quietest dorms is the one next door to Mr Howie and he is delighted with Kai, Lewis, Ben JH and Calum E. Mrs Noble is also really pleased with the boys in the Tower and Billy, Will, Jordy and Harris have been incredibly neat, tidy and quiet. All the Primary Sixes have been extremely well behaved and have settled and slept very well. Likely to be lots of very sleepy heads in bunk beds by the end of tomorrow after the disco though.

The programme might change depending on the weather but so far the plan for Thursday is:

Gp 1 Forest Walk and Optional
Gp 2 Bike and Forest
Gp 3 Gorge and Bike
Gp 4 Bike and Forest
Gp 5 Climb/abseil and Orienteer
Gp 6 Optional and Climb/Abseil
Gp 7 Orienteer and Gorge
Gp 8 Gorge and Bike
Gp 9 Orienteer and Gorge
(Optional is negotiated with the group and instructor together)